Shugars D A, Bader J D, White B A, Scurria M S, Hayden W J, Garcia R I
Department of Operative Dentistry, University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, Chapel Hill 27599-7450, USA.
J Am Dent Assoc. 1998 Aug;129(8):1089-95. doi: 10.14219/jada.archive.1998.0383.
It is widely assumed that if posterior bounded edentulous spaces, or BESs, are not treated, the adjacent teeth ultimately will be lost. The authors examined this assumption by determining the survival of teeth adjoining 569 treated and untreated BESs. In the short term, the assumption was not supported. The great majority of untreated BESs did not result in loss of an adjacent tooth. Treatment with a removable partial denture did not increase the likelihood of adjacent tooth survival, while treatment with a fixed partial denture did result in modestly improved survival of adjacent teeth.
