Result of Doing Nothing at All

If you do not tell patients what will happen if they do not have any treatment done, you are being negligent. In the case of the missing anterior tooth:

• The adjacent teeth will collapse toward the edentulous space.
• The space between the teeth will become smaller.
• The bone in the edentulous space will continue to resorb and shrink, making an implant difficult to place at a later time.

 

How, when, and where does all of this education take place? May I suggest that almost all of it can be accomplished by an educated, competent, motivated staff member using educational DVDs, slides, printed pieces, books, intraoral television, casts of the patient's mouth, digital photos, and other methods.