Research Article
Arina Vinereanu, Rodica Luc
Abstract
Prosthetic treatments for children represent a challenge for the paediatric dentist due to the various characteristics of the growing arches and developing teeth that must be taken into account. Aim. To evaluate the needs for prosthetic treatment in the front of the jaws in a group of young patients, as well as the causes and consequences of these needs. Material and methods. 250 patients recruited from the Pedodontics clinic (123 boys), aged 7 to 18 years (12.00 – 2.96 years), were examined in terms of missing or severely destructed front permanent teeth needing prosthetic treatment. Data was registered and processed using SPSS software for Windows. Results. 12.8% of the subjects needed prosthetic treatment of front teeth. 2.7% of the teeth taken into account needed prosthetic treatment, from which 48.2% were central incisors, 36.1% were lateral incisors, and 15.7% were canines. No correlation was found between the age of the patients and the needs for prosthetic treatment. Most of the teeth needing prosthetic treatment had either massive crown destruction (57.8%) or were missing (41.0%). Untreated caries was the most common cause of the missing or destructed teeth (36.1%), followed by congenitally missing teeth (28.9%), traumatic injuries (20.5%), and development abnormalities (14.5%). Space alterations were noticed exclusively in the maxilla, for 25.4% of the upper front teeth needing prosthetic treatment, due to mesial drifting of the adjacent teeth. Conclusions. Caries prevention programs and early treatment of dental trauma could reduce early needs for prosthetic treatment of upper front teeth. Early restoration of missing/destructed permanent teeth is recommended in order to prevent space alterations.