Predictable prosthetic space maintenance during staged complete-mouth rehabilitation

Abstract Staged complete-mouth rehabilitation to accommodate a patient’s financial constraints during the course of treatment is presented. Clear acrylic resin added to the anterior cameo surface of the maxillary fixed complete denture (FCD) served as a space maintainer. The restoration of the maxillary FCD addressed the patient’s chief complaint. By adding the space maintainer, supraeruption of mandibular anterior teeth and encroachment of the prosthetic space, which could have resulted in additional treatment, was avoided. During the second stage of the complete-mouth rehabilitation, zirconia restorations were used to restore the mandibular arch to the maxillary FCD after straightforward removal of the space maintainer. This allowed a smooth transition after a delay in treatment without having to modify the previous treatment.