MODERN CONCEPTS OF SPACE MAINTAINERS AND SPACE REGAINERS: A REVIEW ARTICLE

*Pheiroijam Herojit Singh, Herojit Naorem, Thokchom Chaoba Devi and Nirmal Debbarma

ABSTRACT

Children lose their teeth in their early childhood due to dental caries, trauma, infection and crowding. Maintenance of space created by the lost teeth especially molars is necessary till the eruption of their permanent successors. Space maintainers are appliances used to maintain or regain minor amount of space created by the lost teeth. However due to delay in interception just after extraction or early loss of space it becomes difficult for permanent successor to occupy the space. In such cases space regainers are used to regain the loss space to accommodate the mesio-distal dimension of their successors. Many space maintainers and regainers have been introduced in Pediatric dentistry. It would be wise to consider their advantages over disadvantages while selecting which appliance to be used.

Keywords: Dental caries, space maintainers, space regainers.