Building-up a New Smile in a 4-Year-Old Girl: A Case Report

Abstract

Premature loss of teeth in children may lead to both functional and esthetic problems. Missing teeth in both anterior and posterior regions may cause malfunctions in mastication and proper pronunciation. Also, considering the sensitive nature of children, loss of teeth may cause the development of insecurities and low self- esteem problems.

A variety of esthetic restorative materials are available for restoring primary incisors and molars in pediatric dentistry. Furthermore, variety of therapeutic modalities, from removable partial dentures to conventional fixed space maintainer can be used for the replacement of traumatically missing or carious lost primary anterior teeth. Dentistry has advanced to a point where it is undesirable for children to be partially edentulous or to have unattractive anterior teeth. The introduction of new materials and adhesive systems in dentistry, offers a new reconstructive alternative for severely destroyed or lost primary anterior teeth.

This is a case report of a 4-year-old girl, attended my private pediatric dental clinic, with a chief complaint of pain in the upper anterior primary teeth, extracted upper primary canines on both sides and upper right first primary molar. The parents and the girl were concerned about the esthetics too, and asked for the replacement of extracted teeth. They were actually looking for a building up of a new smile.

Patient was treated under general anesthesia by doing pulpotomies and anterior Zirconia Crowns for the upper central and lateral primary incisors. The missing deciduous canines and premolar were replaced by fixed partial denture, which was actually a build up to her new smile. Badly decayed and lost anterior teeth can be physically and emotionally disturbing resulting in functional and esthetic damage .The appearance bothers the parents as well as the child, in addition to psychological problems affecting the child in relation to his teeth loss. The proper sequencing of treatment is important to achieve the desired functional and esthetic results. A build up to a new smile was achieved by combining restorative and fixed partial denture.