Management of Missing Maxillary Lateral Incisor: Canine substitution or Lateral Incisor Replacement

• Author Details:   
• Ashwin Mathew George ^*
• Remmiya Mary Varghese

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To When one is at the Cross roads of managing a missing maxillary lateral incisor ,there are two options to finish with a good occlusion The two options are a) Reshaping the maxillary canine into a lateral incisor (Canine Substitution) and the maxillary premolar into a lateral incisor1 and b) Open space and replace the missing lateral incisor with a prosthesis. Which among the two options would be the right choice is the topic of discussion in this article. This article reviews a case of a missing maxillary right lateral incisor and how it was managed successfully taking into account both the esthetic and functional aspects. Factors that contribute to achieving functional occlusion and criteria to reshape teeth for substitution will be discussed.

Keywords: - Missing maxillary lateral incisor, Functional Occlusion, Canine Substitution, Ridge Development, Reshaping of teeth.