A 14-year-old with ectodermal dysplasia has severe hypodontia and reduced alveolar ridge development. What is the MOST appropriate treatment at this age?

Correct answer: B. Provide removable overdentures or partial dentures, with orthodontic input, and defer implants

• A. Implants are generally CONTRAINDICATED until skeletal growth is complete (around 18–20 in females, later in males), because an osseointegrated implant behaves like an ankylosed tooth and becomes progressively infra-occluded as the jaws grow. The anterior mandible is the one recognised limited exception.
• B. Correct. The standard approach for a growing patient is REMOVABLE PROSTHODONTICS — overdentures or partial dentures that can be relined and remade as the jaws grow — combined with orthodontic management and composite reshaping of conical teeth. Definitive implant reconstruction is DEFERRED until growth is complete. Treatment is interdisciplinary and spans many years.
• C. Fixed bridgework requires adequate abutments, which are absent in severe hypodontia, and the restorations cannot adapt to growth.
• D. Extracting healthy, if malformed, teeth destroys alveolar bone that will be needed later — every retained tooth preserves ridge volume.

Note: The source key marked orthodontics. The complete answer is interdisciplinary and staged: removable prosthodontics with orthodontic input during growth, implants deferred to skeletal maturity. The single decisive exam principle is that implants must not be placed in a growing patient.