This text teaches dental hygiene students the essential information they need to visually examine and recognize oral disease in practice. The General Pathology section covers the major determinants of disease and the body systems as they are covered when taking a patient's medical history. The Oral Pathology section is organized according to characteristics of lesions, so students learn to recognize lesions by appearance and differentiate between similar lesions.

More than 400 detailed photographs and illustrations help students identify lesions. Clinical examples and case studies are included. Distinctive clinical features of lesions are accompanied by lists of associated diseases.