Implications of congenitally missing teeth: orthodontic and restorative procedures in the adult patient.

Missing teeth are a concern to the patient and restorative dentist, and this social liability can be a multifactorial problem that involves esthetics, phonetics, disease, function, and stabilization. Dental caries, trauma, and periodontal disease are usually identified by pain, food impaction, discomfort, and lack of esthetics or poor phonetics. Restorative dentists are concerned with all aspects of the general health and appearance of the stomatognathic system and not only have the responsibility for immediate correction of an extant problem, but also for ensuring long-term "outcomes." The perceptive integration of interspecialty orthodontic treatment before restorative dentistry can obviate deleterious circumstances that threaten successful completion of the treatment plan. The prerestorative repositioning of malposed adjacent teeth in spaces created by congenitally missing teeth is illustrated with clinical treatment of three patients.