Closing the Gaps

Gaps among teeth are caused by the width of the teeth being disproportionately smaller than the size of the jaw; this condition is generally hereditary or congenital. Such gaps would drive one’s audience to focus on them thereby losing attention from the whole face. Thus closing these gaps sometimes bears a huge impact on people’s appearances and, in a way, their whole face would be rediscovered once this source of focus has been lifted.

Among other causes of gaps are gum diseases and disorders of the teeth tissues. In such cases, the preliminary step would be to treat the gum problems and then apply cosmetic dentistry techniques to close the gaps.

Certain habits such as pressing between the teeth through putting pens, fingers, or even pipes in the mouth can also cause gaps among teeth. Naturally, one must give up such habits first prior to dental treatment.

These gaps can be removed through various means: orthodontics or moving the teeth, composites, porcelain veneers, and capping.

● Orthodontics

Orthodontics is not exclusive to children. Nowadays, this procedure can be employed to move teeth even for middle-aged persons. In most cases, tooth-colored ceramic brackets can be used to prevent appearance problems for patients. In many cases, orthodontics is the only solution to gaps. Yet in some cases, it would be best to use composite or porcelain laminate to complete the work once the space among the teeth is divided.

 

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● Composite Fillings

With the advances made in producing dental composites, the range of application of these materials has grown further. One of the most efficient ways of closing tooth gaps is composite fillings. The crucial factor here is that the width of the teeth would increase once composite fillings have been used. If the gap between two teeth were quite significant, orthodontic treatment should be resorted to first to divide this gap among several teeth and then use composite to fill the lessened gap. If, however, the patient were reluctant to undergo orthodontic procedures, the side of a tooth can be contoured and added to its adjacent tooth. Subsequently, the gaps could be filled in such a way that the width of central teeth would appear not larger than normal.

 

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● Porcelain Laminate Veneers

In cases where the gaps among the teeth were uneven and large, lab methods such as porcelain laminates could be used to close these gaps. This of course is a more expensive treatment plan requiring at least two sessions of work.

 

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● Capping

Although orthodontics and composite fillings are the most suitable treatment plans for closing gaps, in certain cases where the tooth and/or its previous crowns have been extremely ruined, capping would be the required procedure.

 

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