Practical advice for successful clinical treatment with resin-bonded bridges.

Resin-bonded bridges are one of the main options for replacing missing teeth for hypodontia patients. This technique offers several advantages for these patients, who are often young, have unrestored abutment teeth, and have had tooth positions optimised by orthodontic treatment. However, the replacement of missing teeth can be challenging due to tooth positions and anomalies of abutment tooth shape and size.These patients are often young adults at the time of restoration, making the minimally invasive nature and predictable long-term success of resin-bonded bridges advantageous over other treatment methods.This paper in the hypodontia themed issue discusses the importance of case selection and gives practical advice for the design and provision of resin-bonded bridges.

Pathosis or Additional Maxillary Neurovascular Channel? A Case Report.

This case report highlights an incidental finding of an anatomic variation of a neurovascular channel in close proximity to the maxillary right permanent lateral incisor (tooth #7). A 32-year-old patient presented with discomfort and a history of trauma in childhood to the right maxillary central incisor (tooth #8). A periapical radiograph of tooth #8 revealed an incidental finding of a radiolucent area in the apical one third of the right maxillary lateral incisor (tooth #7) root with the appearance of inflammatory apical root resorption. A cone-beam computed tomographic scan taken to assess the suspected area of resorption revealed this to be a neurovascular channel within the bone passing distal to the apex of tooth #7, which has been superimposed over the root of tooth #7 on the periapical radiograph. This case report highlights that additional bone channels are a common finding in the maxillary alveolus. These channels can in fact be the canalis sinuosus (or branches of it), a bone channel that is a frequent anatomic variant arising from the infraorbital canal. The canalis sinuosus has been reported rarely in the literature, but it should be considered to be a potentially common finding in the maxillary incisal region. Clinicians are made aware of the presence of additional neurovascular bone channels such as the canalis sinuosus when interpreting radiographs for assessing periapical status of teeth and for surgical planning in the anterior maxilla.

Conservative management of gingival recession: the gingival veneer.

UNLABELLED: Gingival recession is apical migration of the gingival tissues resulting in exposure of the underlying root surface. This can cause significant esthetic concerns for the patient, especially when it affects the anterior teeth. The gingival veneer is a prosthesis indicated for challenging clinical situations where there are esthetic concerns because of gingival recession, particularly loss of interdental papillae. Replacement crowns, surgery, or extraction of teeth, and provision of a removable partial denture are other treatment options; however, these have a significant biologic and financial cost compared with gingival veneers. This article aims to revisit the gingival veneer: its uses, advantages, disadvantages, and its fabrication. The cases discussed here highlight two different clinical situations where the gingival veneer prosthesis helped in achieving optimum esthetics and patient satisfaction thus proving to be a feasible and simple treatment modality in certain clinical cases. This may offer a good interim solution for patients who may wish to have time to consider their options of more advanced and complex treatment. Some patients may choose to wear the veneer as a long-term solution when the burden/risk of further advanced treatment may outweigh the benefits, as perceived by the patients. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The gingival veneer is a viable treatment option for restoring anterior esthetics in clinical situations where there are esthetic concerns caused by significant gingival recession. Case selection is important for a predictable and successful outcome.