Are your gums visible when you smile? Many people are embarrassed with their gummy smile and seek help from expert cosmetic dentists. There are a variety of services offered under cosmetic dentistry such as teeth whitening, teeth bonding, and gingival contouring to name a few. The main focus of this article is to understand what gingival contouring is, how it is done, and what its possible risk factors are.
Why Gingival Contouring?
Having a gummy smile can affect your overall image. When your smile shows bare pink flesh instead of pearly white teeth it looks ugly and awkward. Surgeries that include contouring of the gums help in removing extra gingival tissue from the teeth. These procedures are termed as gingival contouring. Getting a gingival contouring surgery pushes back the gum and brings forth a shining white set of teeth when you smile. The process of gingival contouring near you involves reshaping the gum tissue around your teeth with the help of a laser. A local anesthetic is applied to the gums, which leaves you with minor discomfort and no bleeding or stitches.
Having too much gum tissue can result in deep gum pockets around the teeth and can cause higher levels of plaque accumulation. This then leads to the decaying of teeth roots that further affects the jaw.
Sometimes, uneven growth of the permanent set of teeth leads to uneven gum lining on some of the front teeth in comparison to others. Getting a gum contouring procedure can help you solve this problem. All it takes is one or two visits and you are good to go.
The Specifics Of the Process
If you’re in need of gum contouring get an appointment with your periodontist. Our dentist will begin the procedure. The whole procedure takes about an hour. The fear of pain is natural, which is why the periodontist uses local anesthesia to numb down the gums and jaw for reduction of pain. Then our dentist in North Edmonton uses lasers to remove excess gum tissue and contour the gum lining accordingly. There is a probable use of scalpels required to apply a finish to the gum lining.
Recovery Time
Generally, laser contouring seals away the blood vessels in the gums. But the recovery time differs in every person based on their immune systems and healing capacities. Patients with diabetes normally take more time than others because their healing process is slower. If your gums start bleeding visit our dentist immediately and he can tell if there are any complications. On an average, recovery time can take from 4 days to a week at most.
For faster recovery, you must avoid having spicy or hot foods and also foods with seeds like strawberries. Comfort your gums for the first few days. Opt for cool and soothing foods such as Ice cream, and banana.
Risk Factors For Gingival Contouring
There are always risks involved when it comes to altering your natural body characteristics through surgery. Gingival contouring itself has fewer risks but there can be certain allergies or ailments that might make you think twice. On some rare occasions, the patient could suffer from anesthetic allergies and only a limited amount of anesthetic or no anesthetic has to be used rather than the required dosage for the surgery. This removes the attribute for a painless surgery.
Sometimes the gum tissue may contract if not taken care of after the surgery. This can lead to the bleeding and swelling.
However, going for a gingival contouring procedure can make all the difference to your smile. You can consult with our dental experts to know more about the procedure.