When a primary tooth is lost before the adult tooth is ready to emerge, adjacent teeth may drift into the space, creating crowding of the permanent teeth. A space maintainer be used to hold space until the new tooth emerges.
Space maintainers can be removable but are usually fixed in place. Space maintainers are small devices and do not usually cause discomfort or difficulty eating. If very hard or sticky food is consumed breakage can result.
Here primary teeth had been extracted on the patient’s right side (blue arrow) allowing the back (adult) tooth to move forward. The canine on the patient’s left (yellow arrow) is already crowding.
By using a lingual arch appliance the space was preserved resulting in a nice alignment of the lower teeth without full braces. Notice that primary teeth (marked x) are bigger than the adult teeth (marked Y).
