Science Daily is reporting that researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, are now showcasing a new method for replacing lost teeth where teeth are moved into the toothless area by using a brace.

When teeth are lost, the jaw in area of the missing teeth also decreases in volume. The jaw reduction makes it difficult to treat with dental implants. This can lead to the dental treatment of building up the jaw with a bone transplant to replace lost teeth.

The Gothenburg researchers managed to use a brace to move existing teeth into a toothless area with limited bone volume on dogs, without any reduction of the tooth’s natural attachment in the jaw.

Orthodontist Birgitta Lindskog Stokland and her colleagues in another study also managed to show that the same dental treatment in humans caused only small changes in the tissue around the tooth.

For more on this story see: Tooth Movement an Alternative to Bone Transplants.