유절치 조기 상실 후 공간 상실

Abstract

The primary cause of missing teeth vary depending on the region. The loss of posterior teeth is mainly due to dental caries, whereas that of the anterior teeth occur primarily due to trauma at the age of standing and walking and secondarily from the rampant dental caries. Particularly, reduction of the arch length in the cases of premature loss of primary teeth may compromise the eruption of succedaneous permanent teeth. This may result in crowding and impaction of the permanent teeth, and asymmetry of arch, thus a careful consideration for space maintenance should be made in such cases. Space maintainer is required in the case of premature loss of primary posterior teeth, because space loss result from the approximate and centrifugal movement of the neighboring teeth. Generally, in the case of primary incisor, space loss occurs when 1) tooth contact is relevant, 2) crowding in primary dentition is present, and 3) a primary incisor is lost before the eruption of primary canine. Contrarily, in the case of primary dentition with interdental space, space loss will not be observed, mostly when a primary incisor is lost after the eruption of primary canine. Thus, using a space maintainer in cases of premature loss of primary incisor has been introduced primarily not for the purpose of space maintaining but for an aesthetic purpose, prevention of parafunctional oral habits such as tongue thrust, and of pronunciation. Additionally, few case studies have been reported of space loss in cases of premature loss of primary incisor. This study is to report cases of the space loss following the premature loss of primary incisors observed in children.