Crown Lengthening

While the goal of periodontal procedures are to eliminate pocketing and maintain bone support, some periodontal procedures are indicated to improve esthetics or to allow for the maintenance of a severely broken down tooth. One such procedure is periodontal crown lengthening.

This procedure is indicated in the case of a gummy smile where the teeth have adequate length but are covered by too much gum tissue. During this procedure, excess gum and bone tissue is reshaped to expose more of the natural tooth. This can be done to one tooth, to even your gum line, or to several teeth to expose a natural smile.

We may also recommend crown lengthening for restorative reasons. If a tooth is too short to restore or is broken down below the gum line, we can perform a crown lengthening procedure to expose more tooth structure in order to save the tooth and to place a long lasting restoration.