For the French they will also be lucky charms, “dents du porte-bonheur”, and a distinctive sign for the stars, the fact remains that the wide teeth and that beautiful “window” that looks at the world has always given you some problems. The space between two contiguous teeth is scientifically called diastema, do you know the causes and related disorders? Read this article and find out with us.
Ask the dentist: serious diastema, yes or no?
The diastema, if mild, does not cause major problems if not purely aesthetic and, sometimes, can play to the advantage by determining the “x factor” of a smile, in more serious cases it will be appropriate to intervene with orthodontics.
Who can define it? Only the dentist, with a visit, will be able to determine the severity of your diastema and recommend the right remedy.
Let’s do some teeth gossip by naming some known faces, in this way your wide teeth will feel less alone: the space between the two incisive teeth “stands out” in the smile of characters such as Ornella Muti, Brigitte Bardot, Vanessa Paradise and Jonny Depp .
Main causes of wide teeth
Let’s start from the causes that can contribute to the creation of a space between two contiguous teeth:
- when there is an unequal relationship between the teeth and the size of the jaw, the opposite occurs to crowding: the arch is longer than the teeth, which are smaller and cannot occupy the available space.
- when the gingival frenulum is too thick and has a very low attachment, it can be an obstacle to the spontaneous approach of the incisor teeth.
- the bad habit of sucking a baby’s thumb can contribute to the formation of diastemas in milk teeth.
- follicular or radicular dental cysts and the poor development of lateral incisors could hinder the teeth from remaining close together.
Now, without creating unnecessary alarmism but for purely informational purposes, we inform you of possible ailments related to wide teeth. With a space between the teeth it is easier for the incisor area to become inflamed and for traumas such as evolutionary gingivitis to arise. For example, the contact between two teeth protects against the mechanical action of food.
Wide teeth treatments
As mentioned, there are cases of more serious and other less serious diastemas, of a purely aesthetic nature. For this reason, depending on the discomfort they cause and the impact they have on the teeth and dental health, only the dentist will suggest the best way forward for the patient.
Here are the possible remedies, when it is appropriate to intervene on wide teeth:
- “Filler” treatment with dental veneers. In this case, with the application of this thin ceramic coating on the external surface of the teeth, the size of the teeth will be visibly larger. This treatment is used to cover other imperfections such as broken, chipped or dichromic teeth, that is, yellow teeth or with persistent spots. In the case of the diastema, the aesthetic veneers adhere to the surface of the two teeth divided by the diastema filling the sulcus.
- orthodontic treatment to align the teeth and correct the diastema through the application of a fixed or mobile orthodontic appliance, such as the application of mobile, transparent and invisible masks or the use of the fixed lingual appliance without attachments.
- covering or replacing the tooth with artificial crowns (capsules), if the teeth that delimit a diastema are decayed, affected by pulpitis. With this treatment, the infection is cured (filling or devitalization) and then encapsulated the tooth with artificial ceramic or zirconium crowns.
- Dental implants are more drastic intervention strategies and are used in the case of large teeth that are also decayed or deeply infected.
- frenulectomy for cases of diastema that depend on anomalies of the gingival frenulum. The frenulum is cut and replaced in the correct position.
