Considerations of orthodontic aspect in three lower incisor cases

Chang, Young Il; Baek, Seung Hak; Park, Kyung Jin

Abstract

Orthodontists have experienced the treatment of cases with three lower incisors. Occasionally a lower incisor was either congenitally missing or so seriously damaged by injury or disease that its removal presented the best prospect for the patient. Sometimes the intentional extraction of a lower incisor is needed to produce enhanced functional and esthetic results with minimal orthodontic manipulation. Such cases have unfavorable anterior tooth size discrepancies and present difficulties in achieving good occlusal results. However such difficulties can be overcome by the sensible diagnosis and treatment plan. Three different cases are presented and the conclusions are listed. 1. It is important for orthodontist who tries to treat three lower incisor cases to measure and calculate accurately the degree of deviation of tooth size and morphology and the anterior tooth size ratio. 2. A diagnostic setup model should be made to determine whether the incisor extraction is appropriate and space closure is needed or not. It is the best way to be sure that the occlusal results, including overbite and overjet, will be acceptable and how far the degree of midline deviation is. It also shows the amount of interproximal reduction to achieve an acceptable occlusal result. 3. The class I relationship between the upper canine and the lower one must be obtained to establish the canine rise during eccentric movement by the concept of mutually protective occlusion. It also helps to maintain the stable occlusal result.