I was approached by this patient who wanted a more confident smile. She had previously seen other dentists who did not give her options that she felt comfortable with nor gave her options that she felt would improve her smile. After listening to her concerns, which was her "small teeth" and her "gummy smile" I mentioned the possiblity of crown lengthening and gingivectomy. Crown lengthening is when the clinical crown of a tooth is elongated by removing tissue that is covering the tooth. This does two-fold. It exposes more tooth improving the esthetics and natural proportion of a tooth as well as getting rid of excessive tissue that is unaesthetic. Gingivectomy is a procedure that improves the shape and architecture of the gums to compliment the neighboring teeth. This treatment first started out using local anesthesia to achieve patient comfort. We then shaped the gums using a blade to remove the unnecessary pink gingiva to allow for better proportionate teeth. Then we removed necessary bone to allow for a more aesthetic smile. This was achieved all in one appointment just under 1hr. We waited about 4 weeks for the patient to heal which then allowed us to go the second phase of treatment which were the temporaries. The patient was actually able to try out the temporaries for a few weeks to see what her permanent veneers would feel like and look like before she actually went through the veneers. The final picture shows the dramatic change and improvement in the patients smile More

Here are more photos showing the difference from what was done during the first appointment in less than 1 hr. Both crown lengthening were done and gingivectomy. A very big change for the patient even after the first appointment. More