Teeth realignment for enhanced posterior single implant restorations

As the use of dental implants became a widespread and acceptable treatment modality, with an overall good long-term prognosis, treatment concepts changed reciprocally. Nowadays, dental implants are considered routine and are preferred over other modalities such as removable or fixed partial dentures or etched cast restorations supported by neighboring teeth. However, we often find clinical situations that challenge the placement of an implant because of insufficient space. Congenitally missing tooth, loss of a tooth because of periodontal disease, long-lasting extracted sites, or lost tooth structures caused by caries or trauma may give rise to teeth drifting and loss of coronal space that may hamper implant placement. Minimal or minor orthodontic procedures may be used to regain adequate space for implant placement. The 3 clinical cases presented in this article discuss the various considerations and the use of teeth as mediators in small scale orthodontic treatment performed to achieve enhanced results for single implant restorations to replace missing teeth.