Groper appliance

The pediatric Groper appliance

Groper appliance is a is a space maintainer for children who have lost their baby front teeth early in life. This may be from an accident or caries. The Groper appliance attaches to the posterior molars with cement and should not come out.

Some of these appliances are made with posterior stainless steel crowns and others with bands on the posterior teeth. Most are made by pediatric dentists but general dentists could easily make one as well.

What is the Groper appliance ADA code?

The ADA dental code for a Groper appliance is D6985. This is a fixed pediatric partial denture which we use for aesthetic purposes.

What are the modified versions?

There are plenty of variations of the groper appliance out there and some are better than others. If the appliance only has a wire without any metal support for the teeth, often this support is a metal pad, then it will likely fail much more quickly.

Problems with the groper appliance.

The teeth breaking out is the biggest issue especially with the cheaper versions. The entire space maintainer could come out, although your dentist can simply recement it. Getting the impression can be tricky on some kids as well. Some children might do better with impression material and others with a digital scan.

What is the cost of a dental Groper appliance?

This depends a little on the quality of the product that is made. However, the cost of the appliance itself is less than a quarter of the total price so the variance between poor and high quality will not change the price in a substantial way. Our fee for a Groper with the metal pads is around $750 in 2019. To find out the fee in your area you can get a rough estimate by going to fair health consumer, clicking the dental button, and putting in the dental code D6985.

 

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