Dental Implants, Growth of the Jaws, and Determination of Skeletal Maturity

In this article, the authors examine the optimal time for dental placements in young individuals and emphasize the importance of ensuring skeletal maturity has been reached, except in some situations where dentoalveolar growth is expected to be minimal or where the value afforded by an anchored prosthesis outweighs the disadvantage of local growth inhibition. They offer examples of the difficulties encountered in implants placed in a growing individual, including loss of integration, diminishment of posterior function, and excessive wear or fracture of restorative materials in the anterior region. Because individual growth cessation varies by up to 6 years within each gender, chronologic age cannot be used as a guide in planning implants; rather, analysis of skeletal development can be made from carpal radiographs or from superimposition of serial lateral cephalograms.