From the introduction to preclinical conservative dentistry in chapter one highlighting the importance of preclinical conservative dentistry, going through dental anatomy, nomenclature, physiology of tooth form, armamentarium, dental caries, dental materials, adhesive dentistry, basic fundamentals of tooth preparation and step-by-step tooth preparation for amalgam and composites make this edition a must have preclinical guide for dental students before entering their clinics. This edition has plenty of line diagrams and photographs for better understanding of the concept. The authors have also included the too often neglected aspect of conservative dentistry, i.e. importance, anatomy and tooth preparation of primary teeth, making it understandable how morphology of teeth affect the tooth preparation. I am pleased to introduce and recommend this book as an excellent guide for students to understand the subject of conservative dentistry.

The scope of the second edition of this book is as earlier to be simple yet comprehensive which serve as an introductory for dental students. This book covers basic tooth anatomy, cutting instruments, principles of tooth preparation, dental materials and their manipulation so as to have fundamental knowledge before handling patients in the clinics.

Emphasis is laid upon the language which is simple, understandable and exclusively designed for beginners in conservative dentistry.

The line diagrams are in an expressive interpretation of tooth preparation procedures, which are worked upon and simplified to render them more comprehensive and comparable with real photographs.

In an attempt to improve the book for better clarification of the subject, many eminent personalities were invited to edit, write and modify the important chapters in form of text and photographs. We are grateful to Dr Manoj Hans, Dr Daminder Singh, Dr Shital Kumar and Dr Varun Jindal for providing us photographs related to preclinical and clinical work for better understanding of the subject.

We fall lack of words to thank Dr RS Kang, Dr JS Mann, Dr Navjot Singh Khurana, Dr Ankur Vats, Dr Ashu Jhamb and Dr Savita Thakur for critically evaluating the chapters and bringing them in the best form.

We offer our humble gratitude and sincere thanks to Mr Vikram Bhojia (Secretary, Bhojia Trust) for providing healthy and encouraging environment for our work.

We would like to express our thanks to our colleagues for their ‘ready to help’ attitude, constant guidance and positive criticism which helped in improvement of the book.

We are grateful to Hu-Friedy, GC Fuji, Coltene Whaledent and Dentsply for using their images in our book.

It is hoped that all these modifications will be appreciated and render the book still more valuable basis for preclinical dentistry.

We thank Shri Jitendar P Vij (Group Chairman), Mr Ankit Vij (Group President) and Mr Tarun Duneja (Director–Publishing), Dr Priya Verma Gupta (Editor-in-Chief, Dentistry), Dr Abha Bedi (Development Editor), Seema Dogra (Cover Designer), Nitesh Jain (Graphics Designer), Deep Kumar Dogra (Operater) of M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India for showing personal interest and trying to the level best to bring the book in present form.

We shall be grateful to our readers if they critically analyze the text and send us useful suggestions to improve quality of the book for next edition.

The main objective of this book is to provide students with the knowledge required while they are developing necessary clinical skills and attitude in their undergraduate training in conservative dentistry and endodontics. We have tried to cover wide topics like morphology of teeth, cariology, different techniques, instruments and materials available for restorations of teeth along with the basics of endodontics.