Periodontal plastic surgery for the management of an ankylosed permanent maxillary lateral incisor: A clinical report with 5-year follow-up.

Anterior maxillary tooth ankylosis disturbs the development of the alveolar bone process, leading to discrepancies between the cervical gingival margin and incisal edge position of the affected tooth, and therefore, the esthetics is compromised. Proposed treatments in adults and growing patients have been used successfully, but they have disadvantages and are contraindicated in some circumstances. This article proposes an alternative treatment for an ankylosed permanent maxillary anterior tooth with a slow replacement resorption rate in an adult patient, for whom a combination of a periodontal plastic surgery procedure and a fixed dental prosthesis was used to correct the esthetics. This treatment has less risk of complications, preserves the ankylosed tooth as long as possible, creates an optimal gingival contour, and maintains the alveolar bone for further treatment should the tooth be lost.