IMPLICATIONS OF CONGENITALLY MISSING TEETH - ORTHODONTIC AND RESTORATIVE PROCEDURES IN THE ADULT PATIENT

Missing teeth are a concern to the patient and restorative dentist, an d this social liability can be a multifactorial problem that involves esthetics, phonetics, disease, function, and stabilization. Dental car ies, trauma, and periodontal disease are usually identified by pain, f ood impaction, discomfort, and lack of esthetics or poor phonetics. Re storative dentists are concerned with all aspects of the general healt h and appearance of the stomatognathic system and not only have the re sponsibility for immediate correction of an extant problem, but also f or ensuring long-term ''outcomes.'' The perceptive integration of inte rspecialty orthodontic treatment before restorative dentistry can obvi ate deleterious circumstances that threaten successful completion of t he treatment plan. The prerestorative repositioning of malposed adjace nt teeth in spaces created by congenitally missing teeth is illustrate d with clinical treatment of three patients.