Soft tissue considerations in the management of diastemas

In recent years, clinician’s and patient’s esthetic demand in dentistry have increased rapidly, driven by an enhanced awareness of beauty and esthetics. The ultimate goal in modern restorative dentistry is to achieve “white” and “pink” esthetics in harmony at the esthetically relevant zones. “White esthetics” refers to the natural dentition or the restoration of dental hard tissues with suitable materials and “pink esthetics” refers to the surrounding soft tissues, which include the interdental papilla and gingiva that can enhance or diminish the esthetic result. While treatment of gingival recessions is rather predictable (Fig. 9.1) with current sophisticated techniques, reconstruction of the missing interdental papilla is still one of the most challenging and least predictable problems (Fig. 9.2).