The only way to become familiar with the names and uses of dental instruments is by repeatedly viewing them - the kind of hands-on proficiency that simple textbook descriptions can't provide! This new flip-book, flashcard-style method helps readers memorize and quickly identify instruments at a glance, with a photograph or illustration of the instrument on the top page, and a full description of the instrument on the bottom page - including its name, use, and key characteristics. The picture of each instrument makes an ideal flashcard that readers can use to quiz themselves or others. At the end of most chapters, a photograph provides an example of a tray set-up that incorporates many of the instruments used in that chapter. Flashcard format shows the picture of an instrument on the top page of each 2-page spread, with a description of that instrument on the bottom page. Spiral binding allows the book to lay flat or fold over so that just the instrument or its description, or both, is visible. Small size makes it easy to carry and use at any time. Approximately 200 individual photographs or line drawings of general dentistry instruments make it easy to recognize and identify instruments. Each instrument is pictured alone on a page, without any description or text, allowing the reader to learn the instrument's name without hints or clues.

Specialty instruments are included in separate chapters devoted to each specialty. A brief description of each instrument includes the name of the instrument, as well as its uses and characteristics, with each description broken into the same three categories to make memorization easier. Photographs of tray set-ups at the end of most chapters, made up of many of the instruments that were included in that chapter, provide an example of how the instruments in a certain chapter can be laid out in a tray set-up.