Space Maintainers and Children's Prosthetics

Besides their chewing function, baby teeth are primarily important as space maintainers for the permanent teeth. If a baby tooth is lost too early for example due to decay or trauma the resulting gap can close up and narrow the space for the permanent tooth.

In this case, we keep the gap open orthodontically with a removable or fixed space maintainer. The removable space maintainer is a loose brace that is usually worn at night and can be made from colored plastic upon request.