The distal shoe space maintainer chairside fabrication and clinical performance.

The chairside-fabricated distal shoe appliance, with a stainless steel crown as the retainer, is an efficacious and cost-effective appliance for guiding the unerupted permanent first molar into position after premature loss or extraction of the second primary molar. The fabrication technique is illustrated in this case report and data is presented on the success rate of the appliance.