Goodlettsville Dental Services

Diastema

Large diastemata between incisors, canines, and molars of a normal horse

Diastema (plural diastemata) is a gap or space between two teeth. Many species of mammals have diastemata as a normal feature, most commonly between the incisors and molars.

In humans

In humans, the term is most commonly applied to an open space between the upper incisors (front teeth). It happens when there is an unequal relationship between the size of the teeth and the jaw.

Diastema is sometimes caused or exacerbated by the action of a labial frenulum (the tissue around the lip) causing high mucosal attachment and less attached keratinized tissue which is more prone to recession or by tongue thrusting, which can push the teeth apart.

In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the “gap-toothed wife of Bath”. As early as this time period, the gap between the front teeth, especially in women, had been associated with lustful characteristics. Thus, the implication in describing “the gap-toothed wife of Bath” is that she is a middle-aged woman with insatiable lust. This has no scientific basis, but it has been a popular assumption in folklore since the Middle Ages.

In Nigerian society, diastemata are occasionally regarded as being attractive mostly among the western regions, and some people have even had them created through cosmetic dentistry. In France, they are called “dents du bonheur” (“lucky teeth”).

Les Blank’s Gap-Toothed Women is a documentary film about diastematic women. Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State, has a prominent diastema

Some well-known people with diastema include Condoleezza Rice, actress Béatrice Dalle, Elton John, David Letterman and (formerly) songstress Madonna.

In animals

Most species of herbivorous mammals have a diastema between the front teeth (incisors and canines), if present, and the cheek teeth (molars and premolars). This is also the case for rodents and lagomorphs.

Many myrmecophagous mammals, such as the aardwolf, anteaters, and pangolin have either no teeth, or, in cases like the aardwolf, have large diastemas between their sparse teeth.