The reinforced natural tooth pontic.

This article describes an esthetic alternative for the periodontally compromised dentition. It involves a technique for using a natural tooth pontic (bonded with resin composite and reinforced by an intracoronal orthodontic wire), for replacing an anterior tooth in a periodontally compromised, mobile dentition. Following extraction and root resection of the maxillary central incisor, recess grooves were placed into the pontic and the adjacent abutment teeth. Intracoronal round orthodontic wire (0.032) was embedded into these preparations and bonded with acid-composite, which increases the retention of the tooth pontic.