Diastema: Why You Need To Treat Them, And The Treatment Options

Diastema is an unusually big gap between two adjacent teeth. Your teeth can erupt with diastema, or you can acquire one over the years.

Why You Need To Fix It

Teeth Damage

One of the worst things with serious diastema is that it increases the risk of teeth damage. First, if your diastema is caused by protruding teeth, it means they are likely to get damaged or cracked in an accident.  If the diastema is caused by some teeth leaning towards others, it means they are constantly in contact, and their rate of wear is unnaturally high.

Speech Problems

Diastema may also cause speech problems, especially if the affected teeth are the front ones. In such a case, the pronunciation of certain words becomes difficult; this is one of the common causes of lisping.

Aesthetic Concerns

Many people believe that diastema makes their smiles unnatural. If you are one of them, then your self-confidence may take a hit due to your diastema, and the loss of self-confidence may affect other areas of your life.

Periodontal Disease

Diastema doesn't cause periodontal disease, but it increases its risk. This will be the case if you have large gaps between your teeth because some of them are leaning towards each other. In such a case, some teeth may have large gaps between them while others may not have any gap. This means maintaining good oral hygiene will be difficult, increasing the risk of bacterial attack.

Treatment Options

The good news is that diastema is manageable, and there are several treatment options, such as these four:

Fixing the Cause

If your diastema isn't congenital, then the first thing is to deal with the cause of the problem. This is advisable because diastema has various causes, and some of them are preventable. For example, it may be caused by poor swallowing reflex, whereby you push your tongue against the front teeth when swallowing. Stopping the habit will stop the progress of the diastema.

Dental Bonding

Dental bonding is another classic treatment technique for the diastema; it's particularly useful if the large gaps have been created by unnaturally small teeth. In this case, the dental bonding material bulks up the affected teeth to reduce the sizes of the gaps.

Braces

In some cases, your dentist may prescribe orthodontic treatment. This may be the treatment of choice if the diastema has been created by misaligned teeth.

Crowns and Veneers

Lastly, dental crowning and veneers may also help you get rid of your diastema. Again, these treatments help by bulking up the teeth and reducing the spaces between them.

For more information, contact a dental office like Reconstructive & Implant Dental - Edward M Amet DDS.