Dental News Articles

Dental News Volume XX, Number II, June, 2013 by Dr. Dileep Thomas and Dr. Abdulrahman Albedawi Abstract Typically developmental anomalies are not uncommon in orthodontic cases. One of the most common contributor to malocclusion is hypodontia. Maxillary lateral incisors are known to be some of the most common congenital missing teeth. This introduces an imbalance to the maxillary and mandibular dental arch length 1 . Treatment for the replacement of the missing tooth depends on a number of factors, such as arch length, the number of missing teeth, patient profile and smile line. Treatment options are either to close the space by positioning the adjacent tooth into the missing tooth site, close it with a fixed bridge 2 or an implant supported crown. Treatment plans for patients with missing max­illary incisors have traditionally included either space closure or space open­ing for future restoration. The most common objectives to orthodon­tic space closure are that ...