Crown lengthening back of the mouth

This is done for functional reasons where

• Teeth are excessively short
• The margins of existing fillings finish below gum-line or
• Teeth break with the fracture line below gum-line

Any of these occurrences can mean

• There is not enough tooth present to allow the tooth to be predictably restored with a crown
• Your dentist can have trouble getting an accurate impression and therefore the new crown will not fit well. In this case it will almost certainly not last as long as it should
• Large fillings or crowns on back teeth should finish at or just above the gum-line – this enables you to clean and maintain them limiting the risk of decay or gum disease

In this case the crown on the tooth just came off! Too little tooth & a very large filling – all of which came off in the crown leaving the tooth flush at gum-line. (images 1 & 2)

What were the options?

A new crown, a bridge using the adjacent teeth or an implant. In this case a new crown was the easiest and judged to be the best option (the tooth had already been root-filled)

Crown lengthening the tooth exposing 2mm of tooth structure, allowed the tooth to be restored with a new crown 6 weeks later. (images 3 & 4)