Customer Reviews

Phillips' Science of Dental Materials, 11e (Anusavice Phillip's Science of Dental Materials)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers the basic material science of most commonly-used dental materials. It is generally easy to read and understand and is as current as any text dedicated to the subject. Most of the properties which govern the performance of dental biological materials are presented in a manner which should be understood by dental students and dentists. Since manipulation of materials ranges from 50 to 90 per cent of what dentists spend their work time doing, a book like this should be part of their reference library. This book serves that purpose well. The editors are well-known experts in their respective fields and have chosen keen contributions from competent and established investigators to effectively discuss and elucidate all areas covered by this textbook. As a former faculty member, who taught in dental schools and carried out research programs, and now a general dental practitioner who still participates in material science research, I highly recommend this book.

This book, while detailed, is riddled with areas of unexplained technical terminology and confusing sentence structure. A lot of terminology (for example from metallurgy) is mentioned but completely unexplained, which forces the reader to go look up terms to understand what the author is talking about.

Some frustrating sentence structure is also common, requiring several reads to get one's head around what is actually being said. For example "sometimes the abraded area is smooth" or "[this occurs] externally, usually in the interior..."

Overall it's a useful book, but the way it is written makes for an extremely tedious read.

I found this book good for gaining a general knowledge on dental materials. There really isn't anything else around that is better. It is lacking in specific formulations and leaves out a few areas of dentistry - particularly endodontics and endodontic medicaments. Cavit, Ledermix etc are just not discussed. Light cured special tray resins are not covered in much detail although I would have to say that in general this book is good.

If you are an undergraduate then this book is definitely worth buying. If you are a dentist who believes the brochures put out by dental manufacturers then I think this book is a must so that a general understanding of assessing dental materials is gained. Overall I would have to give this book four stars.