Space maintenance appliances

A space maintainer is an appliance made from metal that is custom fitted to a child’s mouth in a case where a tooth has been lost prematurely. A baby tooth’s role is to help maintain the space for the permanent tooth to erupt. When the tooth is lost (either knocked out accidentally or removed due to infection), it can lead to loss of space for the adult tooth. It is important to prevent this loss by inhibiting the drifting of teeth, which can be accomplished with the space maintainer.