Book excerpt: This book is a result of our combined major interests in oral and facial function. Since most of our research efforts have been concentrated on fundamental neural mechanisms, the book emphasizes basic research in this area. However, our back grounds in clinical dentistry have always made us acutely aware of the relevance of these findings to clinical problems in dentistry and medicine, and such correlations are emphasized throughout the text. The term, "oral and facial function," will here include the sensory and motor neural mechanisms of the face, mouth, pharynx, and larynx. Detailed discussions of nasal function, olfaction, and speech mechanisms have been omitted; these areas would encompass a book in themselves. A chapter on the subject of taste presents a brief overview in relation to other chapters in the book and clinical significance. We have not intended each chapter to be a review of the literature in a given area but have chosen to emphasize significant findings for total function of the area. References are limited to review articles whenever possible and the reader is invited to search such reviews for original articles of interest. Where such reviews are not available, original articles are usually referenced so that the book provides a path to source material for those so inclined. Some of the chapters on special areas of interest such as teeth, periodontium, and jaw reflexes, however, are extensively referenced because of their unique relationship to the subject matter of the book.