How much does crown lengthening cost?
Are you self-conscious about your gummy smile? If three millimeters or more of your gum tissue is visible above your top teeth when you smile, making your teeth appear shorter than they are, you may find yourself hesitant to smile and wishing there was a solution. Thanks to innovations in dental medicine, there is a solution: a crown lengthening procedure. Crown lengthening dixon illinois can help improve the appearance of a gummy smile, and it can also help dentists more securely place dental restorations, like crowns and bridges, if an insufficient amount of the tooth’s surface is visible beyond the gumline. Because crown lengthening procedures can adjust a varying amount of gumline, ranging from a single tooth to the entire row of teeth, the procedure varies widely in cost. In order to better understand its cost, it’s helpful to understand the procedure itself.
Crown lengthening procedures involve removing excess gum tissue, and possibly a small amount of bone, from the top row of teeth, helping the teeth to appear longer and improving the appearance of the smile. Crown lengthening can also adjust an irregular gumline, helping the smile be more symmetrical. While these cosmetic effects are the most common reasons for crown lengthening treatments, they may also be recommended for other reasons. If you need a crown on a tooth that is broken very close to the gum, your dentist may need to expose that portion of your tooth. If your tooth doesn’t protrude sufficiently from the gum to support a restoration, your dentist may also need to remove some gum tissue to expose more healthy tooth. You may also require a crown lengthening procedure if your tooth is decayed beneath the gumline; removing a small portion of gum tissue allows the dentist to repair the decayed portion of the tooth. In all these cases, crown lengthening procedures allow the dental health professional to effectively and safely proceed with the restoration.
Preparing for a crown lengthening procedure will require a few dental visits. You will have x-rays taken, and these will then be reviewed. Your dentist will also review your medical history and will professionally clean your teeth in preparation for the crown lengthening procedure. If necessary, your dentist may also place a temporary crown on your tooth before the surgical procedure. Using local anesthesia, a periodontist will numb the surgical site and then make small incisions in the gumline, carefully pulling the gum tissue away from the teeth to reveal the roots of the teeth and the bones of the jaw. The periodontist will remove the prescribed amount of gum tissue, sterilize the area, and replace the gum tissue, sculpting it and suturing it in place. After the gum has fully healed, any restorations can then be placed.
The cost of a crown lengthening procedure is based, first and foremost, on the number of teeth that will be treated. Dental insurance usually covers crown lengthening procedures that are related to damage or decay and are being performed for therapeutic reasons. Cosmetic crown lengthening procedures are less likely to be covered, but many dental offices offer financing plans for procedures that insurance does not cover. The cost for crown lengthening on a single tooth ranges from $50 to $350, and this does not include preliminary consultations, cleaning, or x-rays. Crown lengthening procedures that serve to address an entire row of teeth usually cost at least $1,000 and can cost as much as $5,000, again not factoring in preliminary visits and procedures. Geographical location and the qualifications of the periodontist may also affect cost.