Modified willet's distal shoe pressure appliance

Abstract

Prematurely missing primary molars lead to various problems, and space loss is one of them. When primary second molar is lost before the eruption of first permanent molar, it can cause space loss due to mesial drifting. Various distal shoe space maintainers are available, but in bilaterally lost primary second molars it is difficult. Willet's appliance is usually used as a fixed space maintainer, and when the molars are in the soft tissue it is advocated to use pressure appliance to guide the permanent molar in its functional position. In this article fixed pressure appliance, that is, modified Willet's appliance was used successfully in prematurely lost primary mandibular second molars, with 1-year follow-up.