Swedish researchers are showcasing a new method of replacing lost teeth by moving existing teeth into a toothless area using a brace.

Replacing lost teeth often involves artificially building up the jaw as losing teeth due to illness or injury means that the jaw in that area decreases in volume. This reduction makes it difficult to carry out dental implants and the jaw may need to be built up with a bone transplant.

In the alternative method, consultant orthodontist Birgitta Lindskog Stokland and her colleagues at the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy managed to use a brace to move existing teeth into a toothless area with limited bone volume, without any reduction of the tooth's natural attachment in the jaw – in an experimental study on dogs.

In a subsequent clinical study, the researchers managed to show that the same procedure in humans caused only small changes in the tissue around the tooth. At one year follow-up the minor damage had lessened.

The original site of the moved tooth suffered a reduction in bone mass and dental tissue volume, though not to the same extent as when teeth come out for other reasons. This means that this area is well-suited to implants or other tooth replacements without the need for bone transplants.

Full details of the research On tooth movements and associated tissue alterations related to edentulous areas and bone defects can be found at: http://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/25486.