Do I Need Crown Lengthening?
Have you spent time wondering if your smile could be more even or show more tooth and less gums? If you have found that your smile bothers you more and more, a cleveland crown lengthening procedure may bring you the relief and new look you have been envisioning.
Most often crowning lengthening is used to improve the aesthetics and appearance of teeth and smiles. Dental surgeons remove gum tissue to uncover more tooth surface. Not everyone should consider oral surgery and the results of the procedure vary from person to person, so be sure to have a long conversation with your dentist about your expectations, dental history and medical history. It is important that you are free from infection, in good general health, free from gum disease and untreated tooth decay.
Cosmetic Crown Lengthening
Our gums function to keep our teeth in place and to frame our smile; our gums should not be the main focus of our smiles. If you find that more than half of your smile is gummy, that your teeth appear to be shorter than you would like or that not all of your teeth are similar size and shape, then cosmetic crown lengthening may offer the best opportunity for you to light up the room with a more symmetric grin.
Functional Crown Lengthening
Depending on your dental history, your dentist may recommend crown lengthening as a restorative treatment. If your tooth is suffering from decay or damage below the gum line, the dentist may need to have some of the gum cut away to access and treat the problem. The dentist may be looking to place a dental crown on your tooth to protect the treated cavity, but the gum tissue is preventing the crown from fitting properly. When a dental surgeon removed small, almost unnoticeable amounts of tissue, the crown can be adhered to the natural tooth securely. In these cases, functional crown lengthening can offer the necessary step to ensure a solid foundation before long term restorative treatments.
Crown Lengthening Treatment Process
Most often, the dentist will apply local anesthesia to your gums to keep you as comfortable as possible during the procedure. Your dentist is going to talk to you about the cementoenamel junction or where the root meets the exposed part of the tooth. The CEJ will help determine how much tissue the dentist can remove while respecting the overall aesthetic. Then the dentist will come in with the laser to remove the extra gum tissue. As the dentist cuts away the extra gums, the new gum line takes shape. Depending on the kind of laser the dentist uses, depends whether or not you will need stitches. The newer soft tissue diode lasers are gentle enough that you will walk out of the office with a bigger smile.
Healing and Recovery
While this is a surgery, you will not need to take weeks off work or worry about serious pain. Most people are back to work within one to two days. Typically, you will experience some slight bleeding and swelling, but after two to three days you should start to feel relief. The combination of ice packs and over the counter NSAIDs are more than adequate to treat the pain.
More information on Crown Lengthening : Crown Lengthening Procedure