The Orthodontist's Role in 21st Century Periodontic-Prosthodontic Therapy

Often orthodontists can be of considerable assistance in periodontal and prosthodontic treatment. The orthodontists' principle periodontal objective with so-called facilitative care is to reduce or prevent excessive periodontal surgery by establishing a physiologic alveolar crestal topography. This can be done by recognizing the effect of orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) on the alveloar topography and engineering the desired contour with selective force gradients in concert with minor periodontal surgery.With this synergistic orchestration between specials the prosthetic foundation is more stable, the esthetic contour of the gingiva is improved and, most important, unnecessary removal of alveolar bone is avoided because pathologic contours due to tooth malalignment are eliminated prior to osseous surgery. Case studies are integrated herein with emerging 21st century concepts of periodontal tissue engineering