Unconventional implant treatment: Primary teeth as functional provisional restoration

Replacement of hopeless retained primary teeth with dental implants offers various advantages, such as preservation of the crestal bone and elimination of the need to restore the adjacent teeth. Various methods of temporization have been advocated with the aim to support the peri-implant tissues and esthetics; however, longer chairside time is required to accurately reproduce the interproximal contacts and identify the location of the cervical margin. Recently, few case reports utilized a patient's natural teeth as provisional restorations supported by the immediately placed implants or splinted to the adjacent teeth. The case report presented here illustrates the implant placed through the crown of primary teeth in the maxillary and mandibular first molar and utilization of primary teeth as functional provisional restoration. These primary teeth acts as natural space maintainer, maintaining the peri-implant tissues, during the healing period of implant as well as minimize the chairside clinician's time for the fabrication of temporary prosthesis.