Crown Lengthening
Crown lengthening (or crown exposure) is required when your tooth needs a new crown or other restoration. The edge of that restoration or decay is deep below the gum tissue and not accessible. It is also usually too close to the bone or below the bone. There needs to be a clear distance between the restoration/crown margin and bone. This critical distance is called the biologic width. If this space is violated, chronic inflammation can result, which may lead to bone loss and result in the loss of the tooth.
Crown lengthening (or crown exposure) is required when your tooth needs a new crown or other restoration. The edge of that restoration or decay is deep below the gum tissue and not accessible. It is also usually too close to the bone or below the bone. There needs to be a clear distance between the restoration/crown margin and bone. This critical distance is called the biologic width. If this space is violated, chronic inflammation can result, which may lead to bone loss and result in the loss of the tooth.
Crown Lengthening Procedure
The procedure involves adjusting the level of the gum tissue and bone around the tooth to better accommodate a new crown or restoration. This allows us to reach the edge of the restoration, ensuring a proper fit to the tooth. It should also provide enough tooth structure so the new restoration will not come loose in the future. This allows you to clean the edge of the restoration when you brush and floss to prevent decay and gum disease.
This procedure is also performed to treat a “gummy smile” that makes teeth appear too short. Esthetic crown lengthening procedures reshape the gums and sometimes the underlying bone to create the correct proportions of the ideal smile. Our doctors will perform a Smile Evaluation to assess the unique treatment possibilities for each individual patient.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Osseous, or Periodontal Surgery?
Osseous surgery is a procedure that provides access to clean pockets that are too deep to reach with scaling and root planing, known as a “deep cleaning”. The gum tissue is gently reflected so that the roots of the teeth can be seen. Calculus, or bacteria that has hardened to the root surface, is a brown color under the gum tissue. It attaches to the white root surface and can be visualized and thoroughly cleaned with this procedure. Osseous surgery also gives us access to add a bone graft material to regenerate the lost bone around the teeth.
What is Bone Grafting?
The bone graft that we use is a donor or cadaver bone graft. It is real bone that has been sterilized and processed so that all of the cellular components are removed. There is no immune reaction to the bone graft. We draw blood from the patient prior to beginning the procedure to concentrate the healing cells and growth factors using platelet-rich fibrin (PRF). The patient’s own growth factor concentrate is mixed with the sterilized bone graft particles to make a bone putty. This accelerates the healing and makes the bone graft easy to work with and to shape to the defects around the teeth.
What is a Dental Implant?
An implant is a titanium post that replaces the root of the tooth. Implant dentistry involves teamwork between your restorative dentist and your periodontist. First, the implant is placed in the bone by your periodontist. Once the implant has healed, your general dentist creates a tooth that screws into the implant. An implant provides a fixed (non-removeable) option to restore a missing tooth without compromising the adjacent teeth. It is a single-tooth solution to a single-tooth problem.
What are the benefits of Piezosurgery?
Accuracy
Hard tissue is surrounded by soft tissue including arteries, nerves, and sinus membranes. In traditional surgery, there is great risk of damaging this precious tissue, but with piezosurgery, the system is so accurate and specific to the surgery site that this risk is eliminated.
Comfort
If you fear the trauma associated with drills and burs, piezosurgery eliminates this problem as well. The procedures completed with piezosurgery technology result in minimal bleeding and swelling, and reduced pain.
Healing Time
Healing time is accelerated when piezosurgery technology is used. Not only will you heal faster than with traditional surgery, but you will experience minimal post-operative pain or discomfort.
Safety
Piezosurgery techniques are extremely safe.
What are the benefits of gum disease laser therapy?
Comfort
With laser treatment, there is reduced or no bleeding, minimized swelling, no charring, and no drill noise or vibration. The stress and anxiety often associated with dental work is therefore eliminated when you experience quick, effective, and essentially pain-free laser procedures. Also, postoperative sensitivity is greatly limited by laser dentistry, and recovery time is much quicker than with traditional methods. In fact, due to the less-invasive nature of the laser technique, the mouth begins to heal immediately after work is completed!
Reduced Risk of Infection
The laser’s high-energy light beam acts as a sterilizer on the area it is working, thereby reducing the risk of bacterial infections and relapses.
Anesthesia Limited or Eliminated
Because laser dentistry is virtually painless, no longer will you suffer with fear of injections and numbness. Often, only a light anesthetic spray is required. Laser treatment eliminates the complications and cost associated with anesthesia