Conservative Esthetic Replacement of a Missing Anterior Tooth Using Monolithic Zirconia One-Wing Fixed Dental...

Advances in materials and adhesion technologies have enabled innovative, minimally invasive treatment for replacement of missing maxillary anterior teeth. In the first of two case reports presented, the treatment of a 17-year-old female patient with a missing right central incisor is described. The patient had internal resorption of tooth No. 8, which needed to be extracted prior to a LeFort osteotomy because retention of the tooth may have compromised the healing. The patient was told she could not have an implant placed until she was 25 years old. Treatment options, thus, included a provisional removable appliance (flipper), an Essix appliance, or a resin-bonded one-wing zirconia bridge with only slight modification to the left central incisor. The second case report describes an adult male patient who had had a deciduous canine extracted and wanted a replacement for missing No. 11. In demonstrating minimally invasive treatment to replace a missing maxillary anterior tooth, this article shows how the use of a graded zirconia wing allows bonding with conventional techniques.