Yousef H Aldlaigan.
A survey of the use of space maintainers by private dentists in Riyadh – Saudi Arabia.
Pak Oral Dental J Jan ;27(1):39-44.

The purpose of this study was to obtain an overview of the use of space maintainers for children by the dentists in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. General practitioners and pediatric dentists from different areas in Riyadh were requested to complete questionnaires on demographic data and current practice in the treatment of primary and mixed dentitions using space maintainers. A total of 250 questionnaires had been used for collecting the data and 236 (95%) were returned duly completed. Two hundred eleven (89.5%) of respondents were general practitioners and twenty-five (10.5%) were pediatric dentists. The results of this study indicated that 35.5% of them did not use or rarely used space maintainers in their clinics and 44% of them do not take x-rays before and after treatment or rarely do. Nearly three quarters (73.8%) of the sample use Band or crown and loop in their clinics. The main cause for not using space maintainers was the cost (48.9%) while the parents’ refusal accounted for 33.8%. It can be concluded that many general practitioners do not use space maintainers as a preventive method to avoid malocclusion when there is premature loss of the primary molars. However, significant numbers of them indicate that the main reasons for not using space maintainers were the cost and the parents’ refusal of this type of treatment.

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