Crown Lengthening
It is no secret that dentists are committed to saving teeth. This is why we
fill a cavity, instead of pulling the tooth.
Cavities can
decay to tooth to the point where restoration is virtually impossible without
a procedure called crown lengthening. Crown lengthening is a routine surgical
procedure, which remodels the contour of the gum line. The procedure does not
actually lengthen the crown, but rather lowers the gum line. When there is not
enough tooth structure to affix a crown, this is the only option. Sometimes a
tooth has been broken below the gum line. In this instance, crown lengthening
is very successful in exposing more of the tooth, so that the dentist has
something to work with.