Gum Grafting & Soft Tissue Grafts
Covering exposed roots and rebuilding a gumline that has receded — including options with no scalpel and no sutures.
Learn moreCrown Lengthening in Berwyn, PA
Reshaping gum and bone to expose more tooth — either to fix a gummy smile or to give your dentist enough tooth to restore.
Smile Enhancement
Crown lengthening reshapes the gum tissue and, where necessary, the bone underneath, to expose more of the natural tooth. It is performed for two quite different reasons — one aesthetic, one structural — using the same underlying technique.
Aesthetically, it corrects a "gummy smile": teeth that look short or small because too much gum covers them. The teeth are usually the right size all along; they are simply hidden.
Restoratively, it gives your dentist enough sound tooth structure to work with when a tooth has fractured or decayed at or below the gumline. Without it, a crown placed on insufficient structure has nothing reliable to grip and tends to fail.
Dr. Liu performs crown lengthening using Piezosurgery — ultrasonic instrumentation that cuts bone precisely while leaving gum tissue unharmed. His first peer-reviewed publication, in Compendium of Continuing Education in Dentistry, addressed the management of gingival and aesthetic problems.
- Corrects a gummy smile and evens out the gumline
- Makes teeth appear proportionate rather than short
- Exposes sound structure so a crown can be placed properly
- Frequently saves a tooth that would otherwise be extracted
- Piezosurgery gives precise bone recontouring
- Coordinated directly with your restorative dentist
Aesthetic crown lengthening
If your smile shows a lot of gum, or your teeth look short, square or uneven, the issue is usually gum position rather than tooth size. Aesthetic crown lengthening removes excess gum tissue — and recontours the bone beneath it, which is the part that makes the result stable rather than temporary.
It is a comparatively small procedure with a disproportionate effect on how a smile reads. Common reasons patients seek it:
- A smile that shows more gum than tooth
- Teeth that appear short or stubby
- An uneven gumline where one tooth sits higher than its neighbor
- Preparing for veneers or crowns, so the final restorations sit in correct proportion
Where the gum line is being reshaped ahead of restorative work, we coordinate directly with your restorative dentist so the finished result is planned as one outcome rather than two separate procedures.
Functional crown lengthening
Teeth that have fractured at the gumline, decayed beneath it, or been worn down over years frequently do not present enough structure above the gum for a crown to hold. Cementing a crown onto inadequate structure produces a restoration that loosens, leaks and eventually fails.
Functional crown lengthening exposes additional healthy tooth so your dentist has a proper margin to work against. It commonly precedes:
- A crown on a fractured or heavily decayed tooth
- A filling extending below the gumline
- Restoration of a tooth following root canal treatment
- Rebuilding severely worn teeth
Frequently this is the procedure that lets a tooth be saved rather than extracted — which is the outcome worth weighing it against.
What it looks like afterward
Gum tissue takes several weeks to settle into its final position and several months to fully mature. For that reason, permanent restorations are usually placed after an appropriate healing interval rather than immediately — placing a final crown against a gum line still in motion means the margin ends up in the wrong place.
Temporary restorations can be worn in the interim so you are never walking around with an unfinished front tooth.
What to Expect
The Crown Lengthening Process
- Assessment and planningThe proposed gum position is measured against tooth proportion, lip line and the bone level underneath. Where restorative work is planned, this is coordinated with your dentist before anything is done.
- The procedureUnder local anesthesia, excess gum tissue is removed and the bone recontoured where needed using Piezosurgery. Typically takes under an hour for a small number of teeth.
- Immediate recoveryMild soreness and swelling for a few days is typical, usually managed with over-the-counter pain relief. Most patients return to work the following day.
- HealingSutures, if placed, come out at about a week. Tissue settles over the following weeks.
- Restorative phaseOnce the gum line is stable, your dentist places the final crown, filling or veneers against a margin that will not shift.
Been told a tooth "can't be crowned"? Insufficient tooth structure above the gum is a common reason, and it is often solvable with crown lengthening. It is worth a second opinion before agreeing to an extraction.
Common Questions
Crown Lengthening FAQs
The surface heals within a couple of weeks, but the tissue continues settling into its final position for roughly three months.
For front teeth, final restorations are usually delayed until that settling is complete, so the crown margin ends up exactly where it should be. Back teeth can often be restored sooner. Temporaries are used meanwhile.
Some temporary sensitivity to cold is common, since a portion of tooth that was previously covered is now exposed. It typically settles within a few weeks.
Desensitising toothpaste helps in the interim. Persistent sensitivity is uncommon and should be reported so we can address it.
Functional crown lengthening performed to enable a restoration is often covered at least in part, since it is medically necessary to save the tooth. Purely aesthetic crown lengthening is generally treated as a cosmetic procedure and is less likely to be covered.
We will review your specific benefits and give you a written estimate before treatment.
Depending on the underlying cause, alternatives can include orthodontic treatment, lip repositioning, or in some cases treatment addressing jaw position. A gummy smile caused by excess gum tissue responds well to crown lengthening; one caused by skeletal proportion may not.
Determining which you have is the point of the consultation — the treatment follows from the diagnosis, not the other way round.
Related Treatment
You May Also Need
Periodontics
Specialist care for the gum and bone that hold your teeth in place — the foundation everything else depends on.
Learn morePre-Orthodontic Gingival Therapy
Preparing gum tissue before braces, so orthodontic movement does not cause recession.
Learn moreSchedule Your Consultation
Dr. Liu will evaluate your situation and explain your options — including the ones you may not have been offered elsewhere.