Book review

It has been a long time – a decade or more, in fact – since a book on removable appliances has been published in the UK. At one time, these formed the bulk of the appliances used to treat malocclusions in Britain and Ireland but, as the developments in fixed appliances have continued apace, together with greater ease of their use, removables have become used less and less. Some of the consultants who taught the present generation of the orthodontic ‘great and the good’ could achieve extraordinary results with removables, but they have moved on to happier things (a well earned retirement, hopefully).

This book looks at removable appliances in the broadest possible sense, starting with sections on their use, design and rationale for use, especially in interceptive treatment. Throughout, it is stressed that removable appliances can only tip teeth and that fixed appliances are likely to be needed at a later date in most orthodontic cases. A particularly valuable chapter examines cases that are suitable for treatment with removables: the examination of the patient, assessment of the malocclusion in general and the angulation of the incisors and canines in particular, will give the practitioner an idea of whether or not treatment is likely to succeed. Examples are given of failed treatment and the reasons for these failures, together with a lucid section on that mysterious entity, anchorage. Chapters dealing with the components of removable appliances, their design and retention reiterate that intelligent use can contribute a lot to overall treatment. Fitting and adjusting the components of a removable appliance is covered in detail and, again, many problems of co-operation can be avoided by carefully following the advice in the text.