Lengthening a crown means increasing your dental crown in terms of length. However, it can be quite confusing. This is because you find dentists such myself who uses the word "crown" in its proper sense. In reality, we use it to mean the visible tooth people see when you smile.

In this type of crown, it is the part of your tooth that sticks out from the gumline and can easily be seen.

We also use the term crown to mean the type of manmade replacement that can be used to repair broken teeth.

If you are confused, relax. Don't think about it too hard.

Gummy teeth is a common feature among some people. It refers to those who have a lot of gum in their mouth. The gums are so much in excess that your teeth, or crown, look small. Your smile is almost all gums.

People who seek treatment in my Gilbert dental office want a dazzling smile. Not a gummy one. Sometimes, it could be a genuine dental reason to reduce gum and go for longer crowns.

During the dental crown lengthening procedure we need to zap away some gum to give your tooth the appearance of being longer. A porcelain crown is sometimes needed on the tooth. In that case, we may have to do something to the bone. But, generally, we try to limit ourselves to the gum.

When you have crown lengthening at our Gilbert dental office, we do so under local anesthetic. I will then use either a laser or a little tool to gradually slice away your gums from the edge.

Other teeth may also need some work. This is so I'm not giving it an imbalanced appearance. I would not have removed too much from a single place. This is one part that needs plenty of skill and care. I know what I'm doing and I've successfully completed many such procedures in the past.

If I'm going ahead and making a porcelain crown, I need to prepare your tooth first before completing phase one of your treatment with a temporary crown. After maybe one month, or less, we ask you to come back to our clinic. At this point, we will give you your permanent, lab-made crown.

Increasing crown length may be done for several reasons. If one of them is to make you smile better, then the procedure described is all you need. Even so, you might not want to stop there and go on to have some veneers. And there's also my other Gilbert cosmetic dentistry to try out.

I'm looking forward to our meeting to seek your views on our cosmetic dentistry, over here at our Gilbert dental clinic.