Closing a large diastema

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#31 Post by **Dee17** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 12:57 pm

Thank you. I'll be in touch!

#32 Post by **jerhend** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:03 pm

You could could use composite to fill it. Go to the dentistry today web page and search midline diastema. There is an article by Arthur R. Volker, DDS, MSEd, and David Clark, DDS that shows the techique used to do this. It works great! and it is painless. They use tooth shaped forms to inject composite into, leaving a filled midline. And it looks great. The forms are called the bioclear matrix.

Good luck

#33 Post by **Dee17** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 2:03 pm

Hi Jerhend,
Thank you for your posting. I am familiar with this technique but don't think I'll use it mostly because the composite resins have a finite lifespan and when they break down, the dentist usually recommends veneers be placed over the teeth. I know three people that this has happened to. I'm not interested in having veneers because I think they look very unnatural. If I can afford it, I'm going to opt for a permanent fix and get braces. It'll all depend on how much they cost, though. If it turns out that I can't afford braces, then I suppose I will just have to learn to live with it.

#34 Post by **Mitch11** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 8:51 pm

I never measured the gap between my two teeth, so I took a ruler and it looks like it's over 3 mm.

My husband used to joke that we could just let the gap increase further and then stick a false tooth in between.

I used to have a small gap as a child however it has openned up as I've grown older.

#35 Post by **Dee17** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 6:24 am

Hi,
Thanks for your message. What would cause the gap to get larger as you grew older, do you know? Mine seems to have developed after I had two teeth extracted several weeks ago -- one on each side. Within three days of the second extraction, the gap was beginning to form.

#36 Post by **nikkibabie19** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:25 pm

Gaps are caused by extraction as u've notice...is there is more space in ur mouth, teeth move around apparently...
and

Also by diastemas because of the active frenulum (extra tissue causes pressure on to teeth to move apart)
This is what i learnt....i could be wrong.

#37 Post by **Dee17** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:31 pm

Hi Nikki,
As best I can tell, this gap has been caused solely by the two extractions I had. I do not have a frenulum (or at least not that I can see).

#38 Post by **nikkibabie19** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:58 pm

Lolz i think u misunderstood me.Everyone has a lower and upper frenulum (if u raise ur lip in the mirror u will see a piece of skin connecting ur lip to ur gum) we all have a upper and lower one....

But those that have diastemas have an "Active" frenulum meaning the skin is connected at a LOWER positioning on the gum (to my knowledge it is closer to the actual teeth than it should be)
This is extra tissue interferes with the teeth positioning...and pushes it away.

If you have had a space (even slight) before the extraction then u are considered to have an active frenulum. (IM NO ORTHO, this is just what i understood when i asked my ortho, i could have gotten it wrong)

If it wasnt then u would have had no midline gap

#39 Post by **Dee17** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:03 pm

Hi Nikki,
Yes, you're right, I did misunderstand you. I did have a very slight gap before the extractions were done. So, maybe that is what caused it. I just took a look in the mirror. There is a very small piece of skin hanging down between my teeth. Is this what you mean? I thought it had to be much bigger if it was going to actually push the teeth apart. I thought that my gap must have formed because the teeth were "drifting" after the extractions. I'll ask my dentist when I see him on the 20th.

#40 Post by **nikkibabie19** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 4:06 pm

Ok.

Yes please ask ur dentist and let me know if i was on the right track explaining it.

And the extraction could have caused further drifting as well...since u said the gap got larger after having them.

Boy u sure do reply quickly! lolz..i was jus about to sign off...
well i'll be waiting to hear the verdict on the 20th

Keep me posted

Oh i had my 2nd adjustment today..(2month 8days in)
If u take a look at the 2nd link in my signature u can see how much my diastema has closed with the powerchains (40sumthing days wearing them so far)

#41 Post by **Mitch11** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 4:45 am

Ok, I am embarrassed to say that my gap increased due to sucking my thumb until my early teens.

#42 Post by **Dee17** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 7:08 am

Don't be embarrassed about that. Everyone has some kind of habit that they shouldn't. I bit my nails until I was in my 30s!

#43 Post by **Mitch11** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:30 am

A side benefit of braces ..... you can't bite your nails (unless you get really desperate)

#44 Post by **Dee17** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:22 am

Had never thought of that!! I'm glad that isn't a problem for me anymore. It was always such a source of embarrassment for me. I never wanted to show my hands to anyone. NOW, I can be embarrassed about my teeth and am doing my darnest to keep people from looking too closely at them.

#45 Post by **Mitch11** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 7:41 am

Dee,
Interestingly enough my colleagues tell me that the braces aren't very noticeable. In fact, if I didn't point it out to people they said that they never would have known. You get used to it. I do tell the people who think they are funny with their smarta$$ comments to get it all out of their system now 'coz this is only chance they would get - at the end of it all I'm going to be very proud of my teeth.

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