Frenectomy

[Shadi]

Hallo

I have a gap between my front teeth which I really hate and would like to close the gap. I saw my dentist and he recommended putting dental veneers on my front teeth to close the gap between my top incisor teeth. He also mentioned that to stop the gap opening up again, I would need a frenectomy.

I would like to know exactly what a frenectomy is and how its done? Is it painful and will it hurt a lot afterwards? Will I need to be put to sleep for the procedure? If I have the frenectomy and dental veneers could the gap between my front teeth open up again in the future?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Hi Shadi

Thank you for your post. Frenectomy is a procedure where the prominent soft tissue connecting the lip to the gum near your top teeth is removed, so it can no longer exert pressure on the gum near your teeth and try to pull the gum off the bone. You can see pictures of frenectomy being carried out here:

Frenectomy | Pearl Dental Clinic

If you have frenectomy and place veneers on your front teeth, your gap is unlikely to open up again. Unless your oral hygiene is poor and you develop gum disease in future and in that case teeth can move and gaps can appear between teeth. But that is unlikely to happen if your oral hygiene is good.