There are several treatments available to close the gaps between your teeth and doing so has its own esthetic as well as oral health benefits. These gaps are known as “diastema”.
Causes of diastema :
Discrepency in jaw bone and teeth size
Missing tooth/teeth
Over sized labial frenum
Thumb sucking habit
Tongue thrusting habit
Gum diseases
Here we are going to discuss the treatment options for diastema correction.
- Dental bonding or Filling :
This is the easiest and quickest way to restore the gaps between your teeth. A bonding agent is applied to the teeth and then the filling material is shaped to look natural and then it is cured using a light to harden it. The surfaces of the material are then polished to give it a natural look.
The benefit of this treatment is that it is a restorative procedure and can be finished in a single visit. However, the resin is not as strong as other materials like veneers or crowns and may tend to chip off easily. The resin might also cause staining over a period of time. - Veneers and Laminates :
Dental veneers are thin, tooth-colored composite or porcelain shells placed on the surface of the teeth to improve appearance, and give a beautiful smile. The procedure used to place veneers is minimally invasive and requires a small amount of enamel be removed for them to fit.
Dental laminates have the same function as veneers. Laminates differ in the sense that they are much thinner and require less amount of enamel to be removed for them to be placed.
Veneers and Laminates are mostly used for smile designing.
How to decide whether to go for veneers or laminates can be best decided by the dentist. For instance, someone with crooked teeth or who has big gaps are much better off getting veneers which are more durable than dental laminates. However, if the issue is discoloration or minor chips, laminates are a better option because they are lightweight and do not require much enamel removal. - Crown and Bridge :
Porcelain fused metal (PFM) or metal free full coverage crowns are placed over the teeth which has gaps between them. Occasionally intentional root canal treatment may also be required in some of the cases where more trimming of tooth structure is needed.
Full coverage crowns have more strength than veneers and laminates but require more trimming of tooth structure comparatively. - Orthodontic Treatment :
For more severe cases of diastema, we may need to refer you to an orthodontist. Correcting the gaps in your front teeth isn’t as simple as moving your front teeth. Moving those teeth will also create gaps in between every other tooth. For this reason, you might require braces for all of your teeth.
This does not mean that you are stuck with having metal braces on your teeth. There are other options like invisible or clear aligners which are removable.
Orthodontics are a great option for giving your smile a complete makeover, fixing aesthetic and functional problems without any loss of tooth structure or enamel.
The downside is that orthodontic treatment will take longer than dental bonding or veneers or crowns. But for severe cases, orthodontics is the most recommended treatment option.
We at Aesthetica Dental Clinic, Sarat Bose road, Kolkata, have expertise in gap closure treatments with smile designing and are very well equipped with the above mentioned treatment options for the same.
