[Guidelines for treatment of missing anterior teeth]

The orthodontic treatment of patients with missing incisors should be directed to avoid prosthetic solutions. Specific rules have to be applied for the closure of spaces due to missing teeth to reduce the occurrence of papillae retraction and to place the substituting teeth in such a position that their crowns can be built up to look like the ones they replace. To realize these goals the mesiodistal angulations should deviate from the standard ones, a proper distribution of crown width should be achieved and finally a permanent retention with a palatally bonded thin multi-stranded wire should be installed in most cases.