Crown Lengthening is a procedure designed to improve the esthetics of the gum tissue or to help with the fit of a crown. We perform this procedure routinely in our office here in Orange, CT.
Before and after photos of crown lengthening and an all ceramic crown. Photos and dentistry by Dr. Nicholas Calcaterra.
The before and after photos to the left show a classic example of crown lengthening performed in our office.
Our patient broke a large portion of her tooth. Despite its appearance, in most areas there was little natural tooth structure above the gumline. It was mostly white filling material above the gums. Without sufficient amounts of tooth above the gumline, there would be nothing for a dental crown to hold on to!
We performed crown lengthening to expose more of the tooth. In essence, a small amount of gum and bony tissue tissue is modified and/or removed. The end result is that we “lengthened the crown” slightly to allow our crown to have more natural tooth “to grab onto.”
In essence, we took a tooth that might need to be extracted and turned it into a beautiful, natural looking tooth! Had we not done the crown lengthening, she would have needed an extraction and then either a dental implant or bridge.
Crown lengthening is a routine procedure performed most often with local anesthetic (a.k.a. novocaine).
