Orthodontic space closure versus implant placement in subjects with missing teeth

The aim was to give a systematic review of alternative orthodontic space closure and implant placement in young adults with missing teeth. A literary search was made in the MEDLINE (Pub Med) database from 1990 to 2007. Totally 146 articles were found. Only studies in the English language or other languages with an English abstract were accepted, which reduced the number to 91 articles. Among them, only one prospective and three retrospective articles, two review papers and five case reports with discussion were found. The others presented one or two cases, or focused on treatment planning of missing teeth in general. Consequently, they were excluded. Moreover, a manual search of bibliographies in relevant journals gave no additional information. Thus, only 11 relevant articles were accepted. This systematic review clearly showed, that both alternatives (space closure or implant placement) present advantages as well as disadvantages. Knowledge about tissue reaction of orthodontic space closure and dento-facial development (including continuous changes of the dentition and its supporting tissues) are significant factors in the choice of treatment. Thus, we need more research on basic level and clinical follow-up studies of large samples.