J Clin Pathol: first published as 10.1136/jcp.25.7.611-a on 1 July 1972. Downloaded from Book reviews 611 This is indeed one of the major prob- In comparisonwith the previous edition, Book reviews lems, and coupled with this is the prob- the text has now been set in a much more lem of variations in terminology. For attractive typeface. About a dozen of the example, the author uses the term illustrations have been changed, either to 'odonto-ameloblastoma' but the descrip- give a better picture, or to make way for Pathology of Tumours of the Oral Tissues tion and illustrations of the lesion appear a limited amount of new material. 2nd ed. By R. B. Lucas. (Pp. x 386; 123 significantly different from those given Almost all of the clinical photographs figures. £7-00.) London: Churchill Living- in the recent WHO publication on the are very good. There is some variation in stone. 1972. histological classification of odontogenic technical quality, but the cases shown are tumours. typical. The photomicrographs are not all I must start this review by 'declaring an Any discussion of odontogenic tumours as sharp as they should be, and some of interest' as I had the pleasure of reading is likely to run into difficulties when the the sections look very thick, but the mag- both editions in manuscript; however, 'cementoma' group is reached, because nifications are particularly well chosen to as the author says in the preface, the there is such a variety of these lesions display the essential features of the lesions. views expressed are not necessarily mine, and they are so little understood. How- It is possible to criticize some of the so it may be counted fair for me to review ever, one member of the group (the 'true illustrations, and parts of the text. For this book. cementoma' or 'benign cementoblastoma') example, the 'odontogenic fibroma' looks When the first edition appeared seven is an easily recognizable and very distinc- more like a normal dental papilla, the years ago it was widely welcomed as an tive entity. It is a pity that the author section of a 'dentigerous cyst' clearly authoritative account of the subject. refers to this in the text, but describes the shows a keratocyst, and the note on the This second edition is by no means a lesion simply as a 'cementoma' in the treatment of Vincent's infection makes no reprinting, for there is evidence through- captions to the illustrations: Fig. 40 mention of metronidazole. However, out of thorough revision and updating doubtedly shows a typical benign cemento- within the limits imposed by the brevity in the light of advances in the intervening blastoma. Also, I suggest that the 'ossify- of the text and the small number of illus- years. ing fibromas' illustrated in Figs. 118-120 trations relating to each condition, the The content is wider than the title belong to the cementoma group, and authors have made a good summary. The implies, because in addition to discus- are not true examples of ossifying fibroma. book is stated to be intended mainly for sions on tumours, there are chapters on However, these are differences of general practitioners, but it will also be leukoplakia and white lesions of the oral opinion in an area that is admittedly useful to students for revision purposes.copyright. mucosa, cysts of the oral tissues, fibrous controversial. Professor Lucas has pro- IVOR R. H. KRAMER dysplasia of bone and ossifying fibroma, duced a second edition that is even better cherubism, and Paget's disease of bone. than the first. Anyone who has to deal Atlas of the Ultrastructure of Diseased Also, there is an introductory chapter with the histopathology of tumours and Human Muscle By W. G. P. Mair and on the embryology and histology of the tumour-like conditions of the oral tissues F. M. S. Tome. (Pp. vii + 249; illus- oral tissues. These chapters add greatly will find this book invaluable, for it trated. £4-50.) Edinburgh and London: to the usefulness of the book. Most contains a balanced account based on Longman Group Ltd. 1972. tumours and tumour-like conditions likely long experience, excellent pictures, and http://jcp.bmj.com/ to be encountered in the mouth and jaws lists ofreferences that include many papers This collection of electron microscopic are mentioned here, the longer discussions published as recently as 1970 (and even a photographs illustrates the great variety being devoted to those lesions that are few published in 1971). of morphological changes which can be peculiar to the region, and those that are IVOR R. H. KRAMER found in diseased human muscle. It relatively common in the mouth even if seems that few, if any, of the abnormalities they occur in other regions as well. ColorAtlas of Oral Pathology. 3rd cdn. By of the structure of muscle cells which can Reference is made to the principal R. A. Colby, D. A. Kerr, and H. B. G. be seen with the electron microscope are clinical and radiographic features and the Robinson. (Pp. xiv + 207; 485 illustra- specific for one or another disease entity on September 30, 2021 by guest. Protected illustrations include many clinical radio- tions. £9-50.) Philadelphia and Toronto: and all the diagnoses accompanying the graphs and photographs of operation J. B. Lippincott Co., Oxford: Blackwell pictures are clinical ones. Electron micro- specimens. The photomicrographs are Scientific Publications. 1971. scopy has certainly not ousted the light excellent; they provide a most helpful microscopy of paraffin sections of a mixture of low-power views to give the This attractive atlas, now in its third muscle biopsy for diagnostic purposes. general distribution of the tissue compon- edition, is made up of double-column This book does not seem to have been ents, and high-power views in which one pages: one column is occupied by three designed as a useful aid to diagnosis. really can see the important cellular illustrations, and the other column con- There is no discussion of biopsy methods detail. tains a brief text. The illustrations include or of techniques of fixation and prepara- In the chapter on nomenclature and clinical photographs, photomicrographs, tion, so important for the avoidance of classification of oral tumours, the author and radiographs: there are about 500, and artefact. The photographs are, on the states, 'It is clear that much work remains all except the radiographs are in colour. whole, of good quality in spite of the loss to be done on the classification of odonto- There is also an introductory section on of detail which is inevitable with repro- genic tumours, and that new schemes will the histology and embryology of the oral duction. One could quarrel with some appear, for some of the lesions concerned region, and the book ends with an ex- minor points such as swollen mito- are of infrequent occurrence and their tensive bibliography (31 well filled pages) chondria and increased spaces between life history is not fully known at present.' and an adequate index. myofibrils (plate 70) being described as