A Parent’s Guide to Emergency Dental Care

Posted on: 18 March 2019

The tooth-gapped look may be working for Anna Paquin and Elijah Wood, but since you're not a celebrity, you may just feel embarrassed about the gap between your two front teeth. Some people have been so desperate to close their tooth gaps that they've wrapped rubber bands around their own teeth in an attempt to shift them. This is never a good idea, since you may cause permanent damage to your jaw bone or the roots of your teeth. However, cosmetic dentists do offer an array of treatments that will solve your gap tooth troubles -- usually without the need for full braces.

Here's a look at a few options your dentist may recommend, depending on the extent of your gap and the overall health of your teeth.

Invisible Aligners

If your tooth gap is present because several of your teeth -- not just the two front ones -- are a bit out of alignment, then your dentist may recommend wearing invisible aligners for a while. These are clear trays that pop over your teeth. They're nearly invisible, as the name suggests, and you can remove them when you eat and brush your teeth. Over a period of about three to 12 months, the aligners will slowly push your teeth towards the front, closing the gap.

Invisible aligners do require a little upkeep on your part. You'll need to remember to switch to a new aligner every few weeks and to keep your teeth and the aligners clean to avoid cavities.

Veneers

If you do not want to go through the process or realigning your teeth, or if your tooth gap is mostly due to your two front teeth being too small, your dentist may recommend veneers. These are thin layers of porcelain or composite that fit over the front of your teeth. In your case, they will have a little extra material towards the inside so that they make your front teeth look wider, closing your tooth gap.

To apply veneers, your dentist will need to remove a thin layer of your tooth enamel. For this reason, veneers are considered a permanent treatment; you will experience tooth sensitivity if you stop wearing them later on. It might take you a week or two to get used to eating with the veneers, but after that, you can go on brushing your teeth and eating like normal. You'll just want to avoid really hard foods like ice and shelled nuts.

Bonding

If your dentist determines that you are not a candidate for veneers due to thin enamel, another solution they might recommend is bonding. Bonding is very similar to having a cavity filled. But instead of filling a hole with composite material, your dentist will build composite material up towards the insides of your front teeth, closing the gap and making your front teeth look wider.

Bonding is painless, and you can go back to eating your regular diet immediately afterwards. The primary downfall of bonding is that the composite material will not stain at the same rate as your natural tooth enamel, so over time, your teeth may grow more stained and the composite may stay the same color. To minimize this effect, you should avoid drinking dark-colored beverages like cola, beer, and red wine. Brush with a whitening toothpaste.

Having a gap between your front teeth can make you feel a little self-conscious, but you do not have to go on living with this look. Contact a cosmetic dentist at a clinic such as Parklane Dental in your area to schedule an appointment. They can examine your teeth, take some X-rays, and recommend the procedure best suited to your needs.