Dispel, What's it for? Options

[Olav]

I've played Morrowind to death and I'm level 21 in Oblivion, but I have never used the Dispel feature, and I must admit I don't even know what it's for. What is it for?

Thanks.

[Olav]

Thanks, but I still don't quite understand...

- If you get hit by a fireball, you take some health damage. So if we then use dispel on ourselves, the health will go back to normal, and we don't have to use restore health spells/potions?

- If we get paralysed by a spell, can we then use dispel potion instead of cure paralysation potion?

- And if we get hit by a drain attribute/burden, the dispel potion will restore the attribute, so we don't have to use a restore attribute spell/potion?

In short: Will dispel remove all spell effects/restore everything to what it was before we got hit by a spell?

Sorry if I'm being a bit thick...