Preventing Tooth Decay To Maintain Healthy Teeth

What Can A Dentist Do About Black Triangles

Have you been told that you have black triangles in your mouth? Dentists use this term to describe the triangle of space that can develop between your teeth when some of the normal gum tissue between those teeth erodes. Black triangles are an issue for three reasons. First, they indicate that your gums are not as healthy as they could be. Second, they make it possible for food to get stuck in these areas, which could accelerate tooth decay and future gum disease. Third, they don't look great. Luckily, the major treatments for black triangles can address both the aesthetic problems and the other issues. Most patients go to a cosmetic dentist for one of the following treatments.


Veneers are thin pieces of porcelain that basically snap over the front and sides of your tooth, sort of like a cover. Your dentist can design veneers that are just a bit wider than your natural teeth at the bottom, so they take up some of the space in the black triangles. With this gap partially closed by the veneers, food and bacteria are less likely to get caught in there. The gum tissue can then start to heal and grow back, filling in the back triangle the rest of the way.

Getting veneers is basically painless. Your cosmetic dentist will remove a thin layer of your tooth enamel, take a mold of your teeth, have veneers made, and then cement those veneers into place. They will look like natural teeth, and you care for them by brushing and flossing, just as you would with natural teeth.


If you only have one or two black triangles, your dentist may recommend bonding rather than veneers. Bonding takes less time and is more affordable than veneers. The cosmetic dentist will shape some tooth-colored composite on the side of your tooth, or sometimes on the sides of the two teeth on either side of the triangle. The process is much like that of getting a filling. It will take less than an hour, and you won't feel any pain. Nobody will know you have a bond since the bond is the same color as your natural tooth.

With the bond in place, as with veneers, your teeth won't get as much food between them, so the gum tissue will start to heal and grow back. 

If you have black triangles in your mouth, don't ignore them. Veneers or bonding can camouflage their look, let the gums heal, and prevent decay.