Craniofacial and Dental Developmental Defects: Diagnosis and Management

This book provides the practitioner with a framework for establishing a diagnosis and developing a suitable treatment plan in patients presenting with a range of developmental defects of the teeth. The conditions covered include failure of tooth eruption, hypodontia, premature tooth exfoliation, defects of enamel development, and defects of dentin development, with full consideration of both syndromic and non-syndromic defects. In each case the phenotype and genotype are first described, followed by diagnostic information, including the availability of genetic testing, and treatment options. Summarizing tables are used to highlight the key diagnostic features, and helpful illustrated case presentations are included. Cleft palate is also addressed, with details on etiology, phenotypes, treatment timing and approaches, and dental management. The closing chapter provides stimulating reflections on potential future directions in the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders.

About the Author

J. Timothy Wright gained his DDS from West Virginia University School of Dentistry and his MS/Cert from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship. In 1990 he received his board certification from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Since then he has been a member of the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, becoming Professor in the UNC School of Dentistry in 1995. Since 2004 Dr. Wright has been Chair of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at UNC School of Dentistry. He has in the past also had terms as Colgate Visiting Professor at Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand, Visiting Professor in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand, and Gorlin Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota. On three occasions Dr. Wright has won the William J Gies Award from the American Association for Dental Research. In 2006 he was appointed James Bawden Distinguished Professor at UNC and in 2012 he received an Honorary Lifetime Membership Award from the UNC Dental Alumni Association. He has served on numerous committees and other bodies, including as Chair of the American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs. Dr. Wright currently sits on the Academy of Pediatric Dentistry’s Scientific Affairs Committee and is President of the IADR Mineralized Tissue Group (2012-3). He is a member of the editorial boards of the Archives of Oral Biology and the Japanese Pediatric Dental Journal and is the author of 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals.