Germany's Euro Cup player Niclas Füllkrug currently has the most famous gap in his teeth. The cult mark has almost come to nothing. Because the gap really needs to be closed.
Niclas Füllkrug, the 31-year-old striker from Borussia Dortmund and currently a standout player for the German national team at the European Football Championship, has a special feature that even gave him his nickname: a noticeably large distance between the incisor and canine teeth. That's why fans affectionately call Füllkrug “Gap”.
Initially, the gap he had as a child was supposed to be closed with a dental implant. The footballer once told about it in a Bild interview years ago: “I also wore braces. The gap was widened to create enough space for an implant.” But Füllkrug did not complete the treatment as a teenager.
DFB dentist explains Niclas Füllkrug's gap problem
The dentist from the DFBIn an interview with Bild newspaper in 2022, Siegfried Marquardt explained why a dental implant should not be placed in men before the age of 22 or 24: “Because the bone is still growing before that age. If you place the implant too early, it will stay in place. But the teeth around it continue to grow.” A level difference then occurs and even the most sensitive body systems could be damaged.
It is not yet known whether Füllkrug will ever have another implant fitted: “But it is possible that I will do it tomorrow if I have a flash of inspiration tonight,” he said. But the footballer is also considered original because of the gap in his teeth, and “people saw it positively,” he once revealed.