**2.2. Prevalence according to age**

The literature demonstrates that the prevalence of diastemas decreases with age, mainly due to the development of occlusion. Richardson et al. [6] observed 5307 children between 6 and 14 years of age and, as a result, obtained a prevalence of 38% of children with median diastemas above 6 years of age, 56% at 8 years, and 18% at 14 years.

In a longitudinal study, Bergström et al. [7] aimed to observe the behavior of median diastemas in relation to the presence of the labial frenulum, in children of age 9 years on average, followed up after 2, 5, and 10 years. In the first two follow-ups, the group submitted to the removal of the labial frenulum presented a larger number of cases with closed diastemas than the control group. However, 10 years after the first consultation, there was no difference between groups. The authors found that the number of children with diastema declined with age and that there were a considerable number of individuals where diastemas closed from 14 to 19 years.

Steigman and Weissberg [8] found a prevalence of 50% in 1279 adolescents with spaced permanent dentures, ranging in age from 12 to 18 years. On the other hand, Steigman et al. [9] found that the number of diastemas per individual decreased with age, but 79% of the preexisting spaces remained, resulting in a percentage of 38% of young adults with spacing between the teeth.
