My gums cover my front teeth too much in my opinion and I want to get this sorted out. I have been looking into gum controuing, but am worried about how painful the procedure will be. It doesn not sound a very nice procedure and was hoping you could enlighten me?
Hi, many thanks for your email, there are many ways of doing gum contouring, the most traditional way would be to cut the unneccesary gum area with a scapal, then the underlying bone is also removed to maintain the biological width, which is basically the space between the gum and bone. The gum is then tacked back into place with very fine stitches and left to heal. The healing times are usually around 10-16 weeks for full maturation of the gums.
The second way would be to use a soft tissue laser to cut away the gums and a hard tissue laser to take away the bone. The procedure is less surgically based and sometimes does not require stitches. However, some of the more renowed periodontists still favour the more traditional method as it is more predictable.
Both treatments will require some healing time and soreness after, but will only generally last around 2-3 days. As long as you are ready for this then everything should be fine. Also, painkillers will make sure you remain comfortable.
Hope all this information is helpful.
Dr Kailesh Solanki
Dr Kailesh Solanki - UK Practice of the Year 2007
Kissdental
157 Woodsend Road, Flixton, Manchester, M41 8GN
Web: www.kissdental.co.uk Tel: 0161 748 5250
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Dr Solanki
