JAMES A. MCNAMARA, JR., DDS, PHD
WILLIAM L. BRUDON
554 pages. $195. 2001.
Needham Press, Inc.
P.O. Box 130530
Ann Arbor, MI 48113
(734) 668-6666; www.needhampress.com.
Dr. McNamara is well known to anyone even vaguely familiar with the orthodontic literature of the last 30 years. He virtually introduced the field of functional appliances to North America, familiarizing U.S. orthodontists with the work of Fränkel at a time when virtually all orthodontics practiced here was directly descended from the work of Angle and his students Tweed and Begg.
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In 1993, working with illustrator William Brudon, Dr. McNamara produced Orthodontic and Orthopedic Treatment in the Mixed Dentition, which has since become the mixed-dentition Bible. The current text is an outgrowth of that initial collaboration, despite the authors' decision not to call it a second edition. This work also deals significantly with the mixed dentition; the authors note in the preface that "we have incorporated slenderized and updated versions of the essential material from that text".
The scope of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics is substantially broader, however. Fifteen colleagues contributed to the book's 30 chapters. Virtually every area of orthodontic practice is covered, including dental development, diagnosis and treatment planning, tooth size/arch-size discrepancies, the transverse dimension, and the vertical dimension. Individual chapters cover the Schwarz appliance, the twin block, the bionator, the Herbst, the Jasper Jumper, and, of course, Fränkel's Function Regulator.
Other chapters are devoted to bonding, utility arches, transpalatal arches, and rapid palatal expanders. James Hilgers collaborated on a chapter covering the Pendulum appliance and other molar distalizers. Vincent Kokich contributed two chapters: "Impacted Teeth: Orthodontic and Surgical Considerations" and "Managing Orthodontic-Restorative Treatment of the Adolescent Patient". Very little in the way of clinical orthodontics is left untouched by this text.
Dr. McNamara is quick to point out that he chose to "insert some personal opinion (and, of course, bias [author's parentheses]) into most of the chapters". Given Dr. McNamara's reputation, most readers will consider this a good thing.
As in the first book, Mr. Brudon's line drawings contribute immensely to the text's readability and clarity. The book is also profusely illustrated with black-and-white clinical photographs. Each chapter contains an extensive list of citations.
All in all, the book is what you would expect from this author and his collaborators: excellence. A theoretical scientific basis backs up practical clinical applications in such a way that the reader comes away knowing not only how to do a particular clinical technique, but why to do it as well. Strongly recommended.
RGK