What is Crown Lengthening?

When a tooth needs to be fixed from breakage or a crown or filling falls out of a tooth, sometimes there is not enough tooth to fix the problem. However there are procedures that can help. A dental professional can talk to you about crown lengthening. This procedure requires a surgeon to remove gum tissue, bone or both to expose more of the tooth that needs to be fixed.

To replace a filling or crown that has fallen out, a dentist needs to expose more of the tooth. Some patients have a “gummy smile” where they have a lot of gum tissue around their upper teeth. This is where the lengthening procedure can help. Our dentist in Van Nuys can walk you through this process so you can decide if it is appropriate for your smile.

The procedure starts with some preparation. First a patient must visit our periodonist where they will review their medical history and x-rays. A date for the surgery can then be scheduled. It may be recommended to get your teeth cleaned before the surgery can be done. A dentist may put on a temporary crown to protect the tooth during this process. This gives the periodontist an advantage because they will be able to see how much soft tissue or bone needs to be removed.

Once a patient is ready for the procedure, a local anesthesia will be used. The length of time it takes for this surgery depends on the number of teeth that need to be fixed. However, most likely more than one tooth will be affected. It could be as simple as removing a little gum tissue to expose the tooth so the dentist can place a crown filling over it. But in most cases some bone will have to be removed around the roots of the teeth. Once the periodontist has enough tooth to work with, the gums are sanitized and then stitched back together. Not to worry, your dental professional can prescribe pain reliever and mouth rinse once this procedure is done.

A patient will go back to the periodontist 7 to 10 days after the surgery to have the stitches removed. After about 4 to 6 weeks, there will be a follow up visit to make sure the gums have healed nicely. Gums heal in about three months. After this time period the dentist can prepare the tooth for the final crown.