Everything You Should Know About Crown Lengthening

Sometimes, when fixing damaged teeth there may be no enough teeth space to support the filling or crown procedure. Usually, this happens when teeth break, chip or crack at the gum line.

What is Crown Lengthening?

When fixing a damaged tooth, there may not be enough structure to support the filling or crown procedure. Usually, this happens when the tooth breaks, chips, or cracks at the gum line. For the dental crown or dental filling to be successful, your dentist will have to expose more of the affected tooth through a surgical procedure known as crown lengthening. The crown lengthening procedure involves removing some bone or gum tissue to order to increase your success rate of having your tooth saved.

Crown lengthening is a common cosmetic dentistry treatment for people with a ‘gummy smile.’ Crown lengthening is the highly recommended treatment for a ‘gummy smile. The gum tissue will be reshaped to expose more of the natural teeth, and as a result, your smile will be enhanced.

Table of Contents

Do you need crown lengthening.

Why do you need crown lengthening?

If you have an extensive amount of gums and not enough teeth in your smile, there will come a time you will need crown lengthening for cosmetic or restoration reasons. Are you in need of dental crown or a large dental filling but note enough tooth structure to hold the crown or filling? Crown lengthening is a surgical process that helps to reshape the gums and bone areas at the base of the tooth in order to expose required tooth structure in order to maximize strength to hold your crown or restoration.

When a tooth breaks at the gum line or the dental decay is severe, it might be difficult to carry out a successful dental restoration that will hold in place. If more tooth structure is needed crown lengthening is only way to do so. With crown lengthening, more tooth exposed and this helps in carrying future restoration procedures such as dental crowns, dental fillings, veneers, and so on. Crown lengthening does not only help to enhance the success of tooth restoration procedure, but also helps to enhance dental aesthetics for those with ‘gummy smile’.

Who is more susceptible to needing crown lengthening?

Some people are more susceptible to needing crown lengthening, especially those with extra gums or ‘gummy smile’. Do you feel your extra gum tissues overshadow your teeth when you smile? Do your teeth appear too short or small? If the answer is yes, crown lengthening will help reveal the smile you really want. Excessive gingival display, also known as ‘gummy smile’, is one of the reasons you might need crown lengthening.

People who play contact sports break their teeth frequently, and this makes them more susceptible to needing crown lengthening. Such cases may be avoided by wearing protective mouth guard. If you have, a habit of biting hard non-food objects or using your teeth as tools, you more susceptible to needing crown lengthening, because such habits might lead to your teeth breaking beneath the gum line. Please be safe with your teeth! If you have any questions or concerns about dental habits or your smile let us know we are here for you!

How do you treat a patient using crown lengthening?

In case of dental crown or possible root canal treatment, it may be required to do crown lengthening if most of the broken teeth is at the gum line. As a dentist, preparation the first thing you will have to carry out during crown lengthening procedure. During the first visit, the dentist will review the patient medical and dental history and do a thorough dental clinic examination to reveal exactly what is needed. If crown lengthening is needed it is always recommended to have a dental professional clean the teeth to increase the success rate of the procedure and longevity of the tooth itself.

If the patient is in need of a dental crown, sometimes a temporary crown is used to help protect the area that needs dental treatment. This will not only protect the teeth, but will also make the crown lengthening surgery easier as it will help the dentist or dentist determine how much bone or soft tissues should be removed. It could take several months of healing to maximize aesthetics of the area, and the dentist will make dental crowns that can fit on the lengthened tooth perfectly.

How is this done? The dentist will use local anesthesia to carry out the crown lengthening surgery. How long does the surgery take? Depends on the number of teeth in need of the surgery. If only one tooth is involved the treatment is safe, quick, and routine. Let us know if you have any questions on this topic sometimes this can be complex.

Sometimes, only the soft tissue of the gums needs to be adjsuted, while other times you will need to remove both the bone and soft tissue. This will depend on the complexity of the dental situation. During the treatment the gums are pushed aside and adjusted as needed and the underlying bone and the roots of the teeth will be exposed. When there is not enough tooth structure the bone will be then adjusted to reveal more tooth structure. Once teeth are exposed, the dentist will use sterile salt to clean the area to maximize the healing of the area.

For the patient in need of dental crowns, the dentist will remove the possible temporary crowns prior to the surgery and place them back on once the crown lengthening procedure is handled. After the surgery is over, the dentist will provide the patient will all cleaning and maintenance tips. The dentist will prescribe a prescription mouth rinse, pain relievers, and oral hygiene information as needed.

What are the symptoms of someone who needs crown lengthening?

Crown lengthening is a common dental procedure that comes with numerous uses and benefits. The following are the symptoms of someone who needs to undergo this surgery

Broken teeth beneath the gum line

Sometimes periodontal diseases may cause severe teeth damage. If the teeth have been damaged beneath the gum line, the restoration process cannot be successful without lengthening the crown. Crown lengthening helps to remove the excess gum tissue and can be used to prepare the damaged teeth for restoration procedure.

Gummy smile

One of the uses of crown lengthening is cosmetic. Extra gum can make smiles look unnaturally and unattractive. For attractive smiles, the gum tissues need to be balanced. Not only can extra gum lead to gummy smiles, but can also expose you to periodontal infections. Removing extra gum tissues will restore the gum balance and enhance your mouth appearance as well as improve the smile.

Dental crowns

Are you in need of dental crowns? Crown lengthening will help to create more space between the dental crown and the supporting jawbone. If crown lengthening is done, there will be no cases of damaged bone or gum tissues once the crowns are fixed.

Book Your Appointment at URBN Dental for Crown Lengthening

Visit us today at URBN Dental as a walk in patient or call us at 832-743-2989 for an appointment at a time of your choosing! Here is to permanent smiles and stronger teeth for all!

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