Treatment and retention of a mandibular arch telescoped within the maxillary arch: case report.

A patient in the early mixed dentition was experiencing "difficulty in eating." The right mandibular posterior teeth were telescoped within the maxillary arch. The mandibular midline deviated to the left of the maxillary midline. With the midlines aligned, posterior occlusion was minimal. By activating a lingual arch, the mandibular arch width was increased to establish a posterior occlusion. Also, the lingual arch was used as a retainer. The posterior occlusion remained stable throughout the mixed dentition. An unexpected second phase of treatment was indicated in the permanent dentition because the maxillary right first and second premolars and the maxillary right second molar were completely buccal to the mandibular teeth. Successful treatment was accomplished in spite of broken appliances and noncompliance.

Space management required after unsuccessful root canal therapy of a mandibular second primary molar: case report.

Root canal therapy for primary molars is not always successful. This report illustrates that the consequences of treatment can be significant in terms of patient discomfort, loss of arch circumference, expense to the parent, the amount of time needed to accomplish the clinical objective, and the commitment to long term follow-up care.

Conservative treatment for malaligned permanent mandibular incisors in the early mixed dentition.

When mandibular permanent incisors erupt lingually to the corresponding primary tooth, the lingually erupted permanent incisor should be allowed to correct itself. This self correction will usually occur by eight years of age. If the primary incisor is still present at eight years of age, it should be considered overretained. Extraction is indicated. No primary mandibular central incisors are indicated for extraction, when the mandibular permanent central incisors initially erupt malaligned. In addition, if there is an apparent lack of space for the unerupted mandibular lateral incisor after the permanent central incisors have erupted, wait for the permanent lateral incisor to erupt fully. This waiting period allows for maximum intercanine width to occur. Other factors can allow for further improvement of the malaligned mandibular permanent incisors.

Management of an early ankylosed mandibular second primary molar: case report.

An unerupted mandibular second primary molar first was observed in a healthy male 3 years, 4 months of age. The report presents the rationale to allow the first permanent molar to erupt fully. The treatment objectives are presented with the description of the fixed appliances used to accomplish the objectives.

Digital sucking and tongue thrusting in children.

A conservative approach to the management of the child and parent and to the treatment by the dentist for both digital sucking and tongue thrusting is advocated. Because the prevalence of both activities continues to decrease with age, various age ranges are selected as guidelines for the dentist in selecting an approach for the management and treatment of either activity. Successful closure of an anterior open bite after the cessation of digital sucking and tongue thrusting is directly related to the ability of the dentist to assess the growth pattern and especially to determine whether there is a skeletal component contributing to an increase in the certical dimension.

Evaluation of the time spent in learning from a programed text, a slide-tape, and a lecture at six dental schools.

1. Programed text and slide-tape presentations required significantly less study time than the lecture method. 2. Students of varying academic ability required approximately the same amount of study time. 3. Familiarity with self-paced study methods did not significantly affect study time.

Effect of student academic ability on learning from programed text, slide-tape, and lecture.

The results of this study demonstrate that the programed text, slide-tape, and lecture do not differ greatly in effectiveness at any ability level. This fact eliminates the potential nightmare of having to assign dental students to different teaching formats according to academic ability. Future research should concentrate on the long-range effect of self-instructional materials, especially for the development of the effective study habits and self-reliance, which may be particularly important for low academic ability students. It is possible that academic ability is not the most important factor in matching students to teaching formats. Perhaps student personality characteristics will yield more useful guideposts for tailoring teaching to the student's best advantage.

An evaluation of programmed text, slide-tape, and lecture at six dental schools.

The results of previous studies reported in the literature have been inconclusive as regards the effectiveness of programmed instruction as compared to the lecture method. The results of this study demonstrate that the formats are, in the end, of similar effectiveness. Therefore, the choice of teaching format in a dental school can safely be based on considerations other than the amount of learning that will occur.