Enhance Your Smile With Teeth Contouring and Crown Lengthening
Small changes to the shape of your teeth and gums can make a noticeable difference in your smile. At Great Smiles Dental Care, teeth contouring and crown lengthening can address minor cosmetic concerns, improve balance and symmetry, and help certain damaged teeth support a restoration.
- Smooth rough, chipped, or uneven tooth edges
- Improve the shape and symmetry of individual teeth
- Reveal more of teeth that appear short or uneven
- Create a more balanced and attractive gumline
- Expose additional tooth structure when needed for a dental crown
Crown lengthening is really effective when there's not enough tooth structure to be able to save a tooth. There's only so much we can do with what we're given. If the crown's too short because of decay or it broke off, crown lengthening is a procedure that I do here that actually lengthens the amount of tooth that we're able to work with. Where previously you might've had to just pull the tooth because it's been injured to a certain degree, I'm able to extend that just a little bit through some procedures that allow us to keep your own natural root and do a crown or whatever we need to do on it to make it yours. The best option is usually to keep your own teeth. Where we can't, that's where dental implants are so effective.
Tooth contouring is just a real quick and easy way to fix minor problems, minor bite issues. The tooth isn't hitting right or food's getting in a place that you don't want it. Teeth contouring usually doesn't even require anesthetic. It's just a minor adjustment here and there. It's amazing how big of a change it feels in your mouth when we do such a minor procedure. One minor change on a tooth can change your bad day to a good day and make eating more pleasurable because you don't have that problem.
Refine the Shape of Your Teeth and Gums
Not every smile improvement requires extensive cosmetic dentistry. If your teeth and gums are generally healthy but need a few small adjustments, teeth contouring or crown lengthening may provide the finishing touch. Depending on your needs, these treatments can improve your smile’s appearance, correct minor functional concerns, or prepare a damaged tooth for restoration.
- Teeth Contouring – Dr. Wendelschafer carefully reshapes small areas of enamel to smooth rough or uneven edges, improve the appearance of a tooth, or correct minor bite concerns. Because only a small amount of enamel is removed, treatment is typically quick and may not require anesthetic.
- Crown Lengthening – Crown lengthening reshapes the gumline to expose more of the natural tooth. It may be used cosmetically to make short teeth appear longer or restoratively when additional tooth structure is needed to support a dental crown.
Both procedures are relatively straightforward and can often be completed in a single visit. To learn whether teeth contouring or crown lengthening is right for your smile, call Great Smiles Dental Care at (623) 288-1797 to schedule an appointment.
Common Questions About Teeth Contouring & Crown Lengthening
For a teeth contouring procedure, Dr. Wendelschafer will use special dental instruments to gently and safely even out your rough tooth edges. He’ll remove a small amount of tooth enamel from teeth that are jagged, chipped, or uneven so that your smile appears more uniform and aesthetically pleasing. Teeth contouring is quick and usually takes just a single appointment to complete.
Yes, teeth contouring is a safe dental procedure when performed by an experienced dentist such as Dr. Wendelschafer. The procedure involves simply removing a small amount of tooth enamel to make your smile line look more even. He will not remove any more enamel than is necessary.
At Great Smiles Dental Care, we use a gentle, low-power laser so your crown lengthening procedure will be completely comfortable. The laser quickly removes excess gum tissue, without any cutting or stitches, to reveal more of the natural beauty of your teeth. At the same time, the laser seals your gums, allowing for a minimal healing time.
