These are a group of techniques to improve appearance by either making a tooth or teeth appear to be shorter or longer by changing the gum line.  This is achieved by either removing or adding gum tissue.

 

Esthetic soft tissue procedures are used to improve the patient’s own perception of:

 

1.  Gummy smile.

 

2.  Teeth that are either too long or too short.

 

Excessive display of gingival tissue (gummy smile) is usually improved by simply removing some of the tissue from the root of the tooth. Sometimes this is all that is necessary.  However, sometimes the tooth or teeth also require crowns to achieve the desired result.  In certain situations the gummy smile is created because the patient’s lip is pulled excessively upward during smiling.  An intraoral surgical procedure can reduce this excessive lip retraction and therefore improve appearance by limiting the gum that is displayed. 

 

Teeth that appear too long are corrected by placing a gum graft over the root surface covering the exposed root and creating the appearance of a shorter tooth.  However, the enamel part of the tooth cannot be successfully covered with a gum graft.  These situations are corrected by grinding down the biting edge of the tooth or by placing crowns.