Gaps or spaces between your teeth don’t just detract from your smile — they can cause issues with your oral health, too. Those spaces make it a lot easier for decay- and disease-causing bacteria to hide from toothbrushes and dental floss, increasing your risk of cavities and gum disease.
Fortunately, veneers can help. As a leading dentist practicing in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, Abraham Nobel, DDS, MPH, and the team at Nobel Dentistry are skilled in cosmetic dentistry treatments, including state-of-the-art veneers, tailoring every treatment to suit the needs and goals of the individual patient.
Here’s how veneers could help close up your unsightly gaps.
How veneers work
Veneers are super-thin, tooth-colored covers designed in your desired shape and bonded to the front surfaces of your teeth using a very strong dental adhesive. Custom-shaped and tinted to blend in with your natural teeth, veneers are a permanent, versatile solution for many cosmetic dental issues, including gaps and uneven spacing between teeth.
Most people need two veneers to close a gap — one veneer for each tooth on either side of the space. That’s to avoid having one tooth look larger than its neighbor. For small gaps — especially small gaps not located in the center of your smile — you might only need one veneer.
What to expect during treatment
Veneer treatment typically requires two office visits: one to prepare your tooth and one to place the veneer.
During that first visit, Dr. Nobel removes some of the tooth surface material to make room for the thin veneer shell. This step is important for making sure that the surface of your veneer is level with the surfaces of the teeth on either side.
Our team then makes an impression of your teeth and the gapped area. The impression acts as a model for your new veneers. You get a temporary veneer for each tooth to protect them until your permanent ones are ready.
At your second appointment, we remove the temporary veneer and clean the tooth surface. Then, Dr. Nobel applies the dental adhesive and the veneer, gently polishing the edges and surface for a perfectly beautiful result.
Gapped teeth: When veneers are the right choice
Veneers can be a great choice for most gaps that primarily cause cosmetic concerns. Typically, Dr. Nobel recommends veneers for narrow gaps that can be easily hidden by veneers.
When a gap is associated with a bite problem or if it’s caused by severely crooked or sideways teeth, Dr. Nobel might suggest a series of clear aligners that gradually reposition your teeth and close up gaps that could be interfering with your bite or even contributing to chronic jaw pain from temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD).
Veneers also aren’t really a suitable solution for closing very large gaps. That’s because the veneers would have to be large to span a very wide space, leaving your teeth looking unnaturally large.
Invest in a more beautiful smile
If you have gapped teeth, veneers do double duty, improving the way your smile looks while also reducing your risks of oral health problems. To learn more about our cosmetic dentistry services, call 213-204-8382 or book an appointment online with Dr. Nobel today.