Many people are conscious about their gummy smiles. There are a variety of ways this can be solved. Sometimes it is an easy fix, and sometimes it is a little more involved. It all depends on the severity, and from where the problem stems.

One scenario of gummy smiles is an overgrowth of the gingival tissue. This can be fixed fairly simply, and with minimal to no discomfort post-op by a procedure called Gingivectomy. We use our laser in our office to remove unsightly, overextended gums, and the results can be seen immediately. Normally, about 1 mm of thickness of gingiva past the height of the bone of a tooth is healthy and normal. We can measure this thickness with the dental probe (the tool the dentist uses to poke at the gums), and if they are thicker than that 1 mm, causing the patient to be unhappy, we can laser the excess by trimming down the gums down to 1 mm so that the issue is resolved. In some cases, if this does not fix the problem, we can get more aggressive and do a procedure called crown lengthening. During this procedure, the gingiva is flapped open, and some bone is removed, exposing more of the tooth (crown) to the outside world.