RESUMO
The aim of this study was to evaluate clinically a bonded space maintainer, which would reduce chair-side time and cost. Sixty appliances were fabricated from 0.7mm stainless steel round wire and bonded using light-cured composite to the two teeth adjacent to the site of extraction of a posterior primary tooth. Twenty males and sixteen females (age range 5-9-years-old) were selected from the Pedodontic clinic of the State University of Rio de Janeiro. The sixty space maintainers were divided into two groups according to the site in which they were placed: a) absent first primary molar and b) absent second primary molar. Impressions and study models were obtained prior to and 6 months after bonding the appliances. During this period only 8.3 per cent of failures were observed, most of them from occlusal or facial trauma. Student t-test did not show statistically significant alterations in the sizes of the maintained spaces during the trial period