If you have a gap between your front teeth, you might think it looks unpleasant. After all, only kids could make something like that look cute. As for adults, a front tooth gap can alter a smile’s alignment and worsen its appearance. Thankfully, though, this issue is easily treatable with help from a cosmetic dentist. To learn more, here’s a summary explaining your diastema and how good dental work can fix it.

So, Just What is a Diastema?

A diastema is a gap between your teeth. Don’t worry, though, as these gaps aren’t harmful. They occur in kids and adults alike and aren’t limited to the front of your mouth. In children, though, they typically close up when permanent teeth come through.

Diastemas can have various causes. Some of them include:

• Tooth Size: Gaps can develop if a person’s teeth are too small for their jawbone. Jawbone and tooth sizes can also be genetic, one reason diastemas run in families.
• Missing or Undersized Teeth: When you have missing teeth or ones that are smaller than others, you might develop a diastema. In particular, you’re likely to get one between your upper lateral incisors.
• Gum Disease: As it turns out, tooth migration is a typical sign of advanced gum disease. The latter’s inflammation can damage the bone supporting your teeth, leading to them getting loose or gapped.
• Poor Oral Habits: Did you ever suck your thumb when you were a little tyke? Or do you suck on your lip or perform tongue thrusts even now? These habits can pressure front teeth and create a gap between them.

How Can My Cosmetic Dentist Treat It?

Cosmetic dentists have the training, experience, and tools to treat diastemas when they arise. Typically, they help close the gap in your smile with treatments like:

Porcelain Veneers

Veneers are thin layers of porcelain meant to apply to the front surface of teeth. Often enough, dentists use them to correct smile flaws like tooth stains, chips, and fractures.

However, one of the lesser-known uses of veneers is to hide tooth misalignment. That includes having the porcelain cover up the gap between teeth.

Invisalign

Since a diastema is a dental misalignment, it can be fixed with Invisalign clear aligners. Wearing clear aligner trays for 22 hours daily for a year or so will close the gap, not to mention straighten the rest of your smile!

A gap between front teeth usually isn’t harmful to your health, but it can hurt your looks if you aren’t careful. That said, talk to your local dentist about options that could correct your own.

About the Practice

Fort Dental is based in Fort Worth, Texas. As led by Drs. Cheng, Thorburn, and Luk, the practice strives to meet any and all of its patients’ dental needs. To that end, it can perform preventive, cosmetic, and restorative dentistry, as well as emergency procedures. The staff is also a qualified provider of Invisalign clear aligners. For more information or to book an appointment, you can reach them on their website or by phone at (817)-292-5957.