Reviews and Current Literature 79
form the British Homoeopathic Dental Association
(BHDA) in 1990, and to earn the co-operation of the
Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital in establish-
ing courses for dentists leading to recognized qualifi-
cations in Dental Homoeopathy. The interest aroused
within the BHDA, confirmed by a rapid increase in
membership, encouraged Colin Lessell to produce
this excellent textbook.
The book is divided into two parts:
Part 1
This is an introduction to the history and basic princi-
ples, and the who, what, why, when, where, and how
of homoeopathy. It is sufficiently comprehensive for
the serious student and provides enough background
information for the interested dentist to dip his toes in
the water, without fear, and start prescribing from the
comprehensive information and instructional guide-
lines in Part 2.
Part 2
Most dentists spend the majority of their time carry-
ing out mechanical procedures in the mouth. The
unwelcome twin intrusions, pain and infection, are
treated with analgesics and antibiotics. In the case of
antibiotics, homoeopathy is of particular significance
as the over-use of antibiotics (and the action of mer-
cury on gut bacteria see Appendix 2) has resulted in
a frightening increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Part 2 opens up a whole new and exciting world of
differential diagnosis for various conditions and treat-
ment, often utilizing combination therapies, including
homoeopathy, in conjunction with nutrition,
acupuncture, and chiropractic techniques. This sec-
tion is in encyclopaedic form and equally easy to use
for the aspiring dental homoeopath as for the dental
homoeopathic dabbler.
Often, conditions in the mouth may be local in ori-
gin. More often, conditions such as periodontal dis-
ease, tooth-grinding, bad breath, herpes, tooth decay,
and alveolar bone resorption are manifestations of a
system condition. The mouth does not live in isola-
tion from the rest of the body and this approach is
apparent throughout the text.
Encouragement is given to the dentist to look at
common conditions with a refreshingly new
approach. To take one example, if a patient com-
plains of uncomfortable swollen tongue, should
he/she prescribe mouthwash and antibiotics? - No.
The dentist will observe: is it bitten, blackhairy, burn-
ing? He will look at colour: red, magenta, creamy,
white, yellow. Is it fissured, imprinted, moist, soft,
shiny, smooth, indented, ulcerated? Are these
varicose, sublingual veins? - and a host of other
variants which are found in the index. There are treat-
ments suggested for varying combinations of these
conditions, preferential rather than specific, and the
interested dentist will find this comprehensive
approach rewarding and absorbing. There is also an
appendix on the establishment and stocking of a
basic dental homoeopathic pharmacy.
Dr Lessell is to be congratulated on producing a
textbook which, I suspect, will long remain a stan-
dard reference book for homoeopathic dental practi-
tioners.
Jack G Levenson LDSRCS (Edin),
President,
British Society of Mercury Free Dentistry
(incorporating The British Dental Society
for Clinical Nutrition);
Founder member,
British Homoeopathic Dental Association,
Flat 1,62 Welbeck Street,
London W1M 7HB, UK
Essential oil safety: a guide for health care
professionals
by Robert Tisserand and Tony Balacs
Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 1995. vii+279pp.
£26.
ISBN: 0 443 05260 3
This book, as its title suggests, addresses the impor-
tant issues of essential oil safety, toxicity and toxicol-
ogy, and is the first book of its kind to examine
essential oils in this way. The book is well written and
delightfully free from anecdote, compared to many
previous books in this field. The research information
is well presented and up to date. Problems such as the
difficulty in extrapolation of research findings
between animal studies and possible human
responses are acknowledged, since the number of
human clinical trials performed with essential oils are
known to be limited.
It is refreshing to find a book about essential oils
which is not a 'how to' book, but instead offers pro-
files about the essential oils from a toxicology view-
point. It is therefore interesting that not all oils
known to be in common usage are referred to in detail
in the book, which may be disconcerting for some
readers. Most oils are, however, listed in the safety
index section.
Many of these are not in common usage by aro-
matherapists in practice, nor are they traditionally
currently taught on aromatherapy courses. The use of
some of this information may therefore be lost on
practising therapists in healthcare settings. However,
the various sections of the book provide useful infor-
mation about administration, metabolism, toxicity,
the skin, cancer, reproduction, cautions, and con-
traindications. Essential oil profiles, a chemical
and safety index, and safety guidelines are also
included.
80 Complementary Therapies in Medicine
The limitations of the book in terms of its value
for healthcare professionals lie in the areas where
research has not yet been performed, such as interac-
tions and toxicities with other drugs, and the effects
of the oils on humans in the clinical setting as
opposed to animal laboratory studies. Until further
such research has been performed, no text will be able
to provide answers to these questions.
In terms of overall value, this book may well be
seen as an up-to-date safety manual in the field of
aromatherapy. How much this information will be of
use to the qualified therapist in the clinical situation
will depend upon the level of previous knowledge
level and awareness of current research.
Caroline Stevensen BA Hons, RGN, IFA,
MacMillan Specialist in Complementary Therapies,
Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital NHS Trust,
London, UK
Aromatherapy for health professionals
by Shirley Price and Len Price
Edinburgh: Churchill Livingtone, 1995. v+298pp.
£ 16.50(paper)
ISBN: 0 443 04975 0
This book is a definite improvement on previous
books by the same authors, especially in its attempt to
be an up-to-date reference book for practising health-
care professionals and others wishing to use essential
oils as a complementary therapy. The book sets out
the fundamentals of aromatherapy clearly in a man-
ner useful to any practitioner of the subject, including
sections on essential oil chemistry, absorption, mas-
sage and its use in a variety of contexts. Better refer-
enced than many other texts of its kind, it gives the
opportunity for readers to find some of the original
research material on the subject, although not all ref-
erences accurately support the statements made by
the authors. This is to say that some of the references
cited are themselves anecdotal and not based on clin-
ical research. As these distinctions in referencing are
not made clear by the authors, it proves difficult for
the reader to evaluate accurately the quality of the
information provided.
The book has an interesting section on the current
use of aromatherapy in the healthcare settings which
is supported by case studies and a few formal research
trials; this is helpful in that it offers the reader a view
of what a selection of aromatherapists in practice in a
healthcare context are doing world-wide.
This book is definitely an attempt at a scientific
perspective on aromatherapy compared to previous
books, but some of the references themselves are sup-
ported by anecdote rather than clinical research. The
section regarding the internal administration of
essential oils, called 'aromatology' is closely followed
by the section on the administration of medicines for
nurses, midwives and health visitors produced by the
UKCC, almost suggesting that this is an approved
way for nurses to offer essential oils in practice. At
present, this is not the case and may be misleading for
the reader.
There is a commercial bias evident in the useful
addresses section which is unfortunate. This textbook
is certainly approaching a level for healthcare profes-
sionals and at present is the most informative on the
market. It is a well-rounded text and, along with the
recent publication of the Tisserand and Balacs' book
Essential Oil Safety (Churchill Livingstone 1995),
which examines essential oil toxicology, forms the
best available information source for healthcare pro-
fessionals published to date. Until further human
clinical research trials are performed in the field of
essential oils, it will be difficult to obtain more rele-
vant clinical information about the use of essential
oils in practice.
Caroline Stevensen BA Hons, RGN, IFA,
Macmillan Specialist in Complementary Therapies,
Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital NHS Trust,
London, UK
Complementary medicine today: practitioners and
patients (Revised edition)
by Ursula Sharma
London: Routledge, 1995. x+237pp. £13.99.
ISBN: 0 45 04794 3
The first edition of Sharma's book is well known and
has been equally well accepted wiich students of com-
plementary medicine. It represents an in-depth dis-
cussion of the sociological aspects of complementary
medicine. When it was first published in 1992, it had
considerable influence and impact on the 'scene'.
Will the revised version have the same success? I
think not. The main reason is that there is little or no
evidence that it has been adequately updated. In the
chapter entitled 'Who uses complementary medicine',
for instance, the author presents European prevalence
figures. I'm not sure whether these ever have been
correct and what they were based on, but today they
are certainly nowhere near describing the actual
situation. Sharma also presents at great length
her own study carried out in the U K between 1986 and
1987. The findings were hardly recent when the book
first came out. Today, they have only historical value.
One could easily go on and on demonstrating that
the 'revised edition' is not a true revision. In fact, one
has a hard time finding any changes at all. Certainly,
the 4000 new publications on complementary
medicine since 1992 (my estimation), have not made
enough impression on the author for her actually to
cite them in meaningful amounts.