Causes of a Diastema and Treatment Options You Can Seek

Dentist Blog

A diastema refers to a significant space between two teeth. This typically occurs at the frontal incisors but can also be a gap between any other two teeth in your mouth. Diastemas do not usually cause any health concerns, thus most people tend to want to eliminate them for aesthetic purposes. There are a number of reasons why one may develop a diastema. These range from:

• Irregularly small teeth which causes extra spacing between them.
• A missing tooth due to trauma.
• A labial frenum that is oversized. The labial frenum is the tissue that extends between your upper lip and the gum tissue above your upper incisors. When it becomes too big, it can create space between the upper incisors thus causing a diastema.
• Prolonged thumb sucking that leads to pushing of the upper incisors forward, thus causing a gap between them.
• Periodontal diseases that lead to bone loss. This bone loss causes the teeth to become loose and shift from their position, thus causing a gap.

Treatment options you can seek for a diastema

In some cases, a diastema may be caused by other oral problems such as periodontal disease. As such, fixing it would be part of the treatment carried out to cure the disease. However, in most cases, it tends to be a cosmetic problem and that is why you would have to seek treatment from a cosmetic dentist. The treatment options available to you would largely be dictated by the initial cause of the diastema.

• If you have diastemas in both your upper and lower teeth, then the cosmetic dentist may recommend dental braces to correct the unwanted spaces.  It should be noted that braces would be recommended to ensure the uniform displacement of teeth to their correct position rather than simply moving the affected teeth together.
• In the event that you have a diastema because your lateral incisors are small, the cosmetic dentist may recommend widening them to fill up the gap. This type of treatment can be carried out using dental veneers, dental crowns and dental bonding.
• If the diastema is caused by trauma that led to a missing tooth, then you may require extensive restorative treatment. This could include the use of dental implants, dentures or a dental bridge to camouflage the gap.
• When a diastema is caused by an oversized labial frenum, the cosmetic dentist will do a procedure known as a frenectomy. This procedure involves cutting out the overgrown tissue. In younger children, the diastema may close off on its own once the procedure is done as their teeth are still growing. In adults, you may have to follow this procedure with dental braces to push your teeth closer together. 

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29 April 2016