388 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERY

of research on salivary steroid levels utilising this technique but on the assay techniques themselves and
their advantages over measuring steroid levels in blood and urine.
These advantages are many. The technique is non-invasive. allowing for the collection of multiple
samples by the subjects themselves without the need of trained personnel. Longitudinal studies can be
carried out in the subject’s normal environment without the stress of repeated venepuncture-a major
advantage for corticosteroid studies. Ethical constraints imposed by repeated vcnepunctures are
eliminated. Monitoring the rate of salivary flow is not necessary since steroid concentrations are
independent of flow rate. And unlike blood samples. salivary samples reflect only the more important
unbound. or biologically active hormone fraction in the blood.
Although these advantages are important and worth emphasising. the authors have overstated them.
and the same information is repeated in several places in the book.
Despite the advantages of saliva collection the degree to which it is accepted will depend upon the
demonstration that measured steroid levels in saliva accurately reflect those of the plasma. This the
authors have convincingly demonstrated, based upon evidence made possible by recent technological
advances. In the past. lack of assay sensitivity and the need of special devices for collecting parotid fluid
restricted the use that could be made of this procedure. Recently, however. the devebpment of simple
radioimmunoassays requiring only small aliquots of mixed saliva have made it possible to obtain
accurate measurements of salivary steroid levels.
In presenting the state of knowledge regarding this important technique, D. B. Ferguson continues in
the tradition of the ‘Frontiers of Oral Physiology’ series. He brings together experts to review work on
particular steroid hormones, who have included some original experimental results. They present their
material in a clear and accurate manner. The chapters carry useful. up-to-date references, and the need
for a good index is met.
Since 1974 this scrics has provided reviews of interest for the oral physiologist on such topics as oral
sensory mechanisms, oral tissues and mastication. The topic of this latest volume. however. appears to
be of more interest to the endocrinologist than to the oral physiologist. Although it is the intention of the
editor ‘to provide some reference source for the oral physiologist and the dental clinician’, very few have
a need for steroid measurements. Although oral physiologists have long been interested in the
composition of saliva there is no known direct effect of steroids in saliva on oral function.
This volume should be considered as a significant and valuable reference source for those wishing to
pursue research in steroid hormones.
NORBERTMYSLINSKI

Glickman’s Clinical Periodontology (6th Edn). By FEMAIN A. CARRANZA (Ed.), with 15 contributors.
W. B. Saunders Co., 1984, pp. 979. f58.50.

It may seem superfluous to review a book which has reached a sixth edition as this fact alone must
indicate a good pedigree. This is certainly true of Glickman’s Clinical Periodontology.
Nevertheless there are those who wish to buy a book on the subject for the first time and will
appreciate advice and those who possess the previous edition and will want to know whether or not it is
worthwhile purchasing the latest edition.
The preface states that the book is for practitioners of general dentistry and students preparing to
become general practitioners. The work is so comprehensive that this reviewer is left wondering what
the authors would have written had their remit been to write for the postgraduate aspiring to bc a
specialist in periodontology! So those who arc aspiring to be specialists would be investing their money
soundly by purchasing a copy. but the undergraduate might well find himself swamped by the vastness of
the knowledge contained in this near 1,000 page book. For the established general practitioner who can
afford the price and who is prepared to do a great deal of reading in a desire to extend his horizons it can
be recommended.
Most British dentists who own the previous volume will be recogniscd periodontists who are keeping
abreast of the subject by reading specialist journals and discussions with colleagues. so may well find it
unnecessary to purchase the new edition even though it has been revised. but not extensively.
There are lengthy lists of references but few dated after 1980, excellent illustrations and a high quality
of publication with regard to printing, quality of paper and binding.

BRYAN WADE