Introduction: Congenital lack of one or more teeth is a common anomaly in people. This study was performed to assess the difference between treatment of hypodontia by space closure or by space opening and replacement by artificial teeth.
Materials and Methods: The sample consists of twenty adult patients (15 females, 5 males) with an age of 18-25 years.Full clinical examination with complete records had been taken for each patient before orthodontic treatment which includes: Photographs, orthopantomographs and casts. The spaces before and after orthodontic treatment had been measured and statistical analysis had been done.
Results: The time of treatment were longer in cases with space closure than in cases of space opening and retention periods were more in cases with space closure than those in cases of space opening.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the treatment by space opening can be regarded as the simple, less time and effort consuming for both; the patient and the orthodontist.