What can you expect from gum surgery?

There are many factors that create the beautiful smile: Bright, healthy teeth immediately popped up on your mind and made a strong impression on you. But the gum tissue that surrounds and supports those teeth also plays a very important role in how appealing your smile will look  
There are many different cosmetic problems related to gum tissue (gingival). For example: your smile may look “gummy smile” - meaning you seem to show too much gum tissue when smiling or your teeth look too short. Sometimes it goes the opposite - your teeth are too long because your gum tissue has receded (pulled back), exposing tooth-root surfaces. Or, you may have uneven gum contour, meaning the gum tissue covers some of your teeth more than others. All these cosmetic gum issues can be successfully treated with cosmetic gingival surgery performed at The East Rose Dental.

Cosmetic Gum Issues

Receding Gums

Your gums can recede (shrink - fall down), revealing part of the tooth roots. This causes a cosmetic problem because the root surface which has no enamel coating tends to be more yellow than the crowns of your teeth. In addition, receding gums expose the root, making teeth more sensitive, painful, or tender to cold water or to the touch and may be at higher risk of tooth decay. For receding gums, a variety of gum grafting procedures can be used to cover exposed roots, all of which involve moving gum tissue from one site to another in the mouth. For example: doctors at The East Rose Dental can take gum tissue from your palate, which is the same type of tissue, and transplant it into the receding area; Or, the doctor may remove adjacent gum tissue and move it over to cover the exposed root. Sometimes laboratory-processed tissue from another donor can even be used. All these solutions need to be examined and carefully selected by your doctor in order to have the most ideal solution for you.

Gummy Smile

Occurs when excess gum tissue covers the enamel surface (upper portion) more than usual. In that case, a procedure called “crown lengthening” may be performed, in which gum tissue (and sometimes a small amount of bone tissue) is removed to reveal more tooth surfaces.
 

Uneven gum contour

If you have uneven gum contours, in which some teeth are covered with more tissue than others, you may need gingivoplasty to reshape the tissue for the optimal cosmetic effect. This cosmetic surgery can be done normally with a surgical knife or with newer dental laser technology. The advantages of the laser are that the process is more comfortable, faster and the healing time is shorter.

What can you expect from gum surgery?

All gum surgery can be done at the dental office - and it usually requires only local anesthesia. In fact, for laser surgery, you can simply apply a local anesthetic in gel form. If you want a higher level of relaxation, you can take an oral sedation or maybe even the I.V sedation; Laser surgery leaves no open wounds and causes minimal discomfort. However, you will need to do an examination to determine whether conventional or laser treatment is in your best interest.
The grafting pieces can take longer time to heal, especially if the tissue is taken from your palate. You will have two places where the wound is to be healed: the location where the donor is taken and the recipient where the tissue is attached. Both of these positions will be sealed by the doctor with self-focus sutures. You will need to eat a lighter diet and avoid chewing these places in your mouth for a few days. Although it may take a few weeks for full recovery, you can resume your normal activities in the next day. At The East Rose Dental, no matter what type of gum plastic surgery you may need, the procedure and results are predictable - and we can do wonders for your smile!