The patient is a 35 year old male who presented with an unusual problem. There was a great discrepancy between the size of his jaws and the size of his teeth, resulting in wide spacing. The appearance was of missing teeth even though all the anterior teeth were present. He had originally been interested in an orthodontic solution. However the patient and doctor decided on an alternative strategy after viewing a computer image mock-up of what could be done by widening the 4 existing upper incisors with porcelain veneers and adding two teeth to his lower dentition by means of resin bonded bridges.

The resin bonded bridge utilizes similar technology to the porcelain veneer, in that after conservative tooth reduction a porcelain bridge is bonded to existing enamel. Unlike veneers which cover the front sides of teeth however, the bonding is done on the back side. Though it is not often the treatment of choice, in a situation such as this where there are intact teeth, and the occlusion is favorable (not too heavy), it does offer a non surgical alternative to implants while avoiding extreme reduction of the retaining teeth.