Here we have removed the old restorations. For the canine in particular (tooth in the middle of the photo) we found there was minimal sound tooth tissue remaining.

In this photo we can see the gum reflected, and the missing portion of the individual teeth have been built up once again. (see whiter portions of teeth)

When there is only a small portion of the natural tooth remaining, it comes a bit of a conundrum for how to fix this- we cant place dental crowns on small and weakened foundations because they will likely fracture at the weakest point of the tooth margin.

Here more sound tooth structure is needed for our treatment to yield long term success.

Crown Lengthening Surgery is essentially like rolling up one's sleeve; but for the tooth- by carefully removing bone around the neck of the teeth- we gain access to more of the tooth structure hidden beneath.

The result is more solid tooth to available and a better foundation is created to for our future crowns.

Here we can more easily see the decay beneath the patients existing veneer.

Assessing the depth of the decay, it appears to be quite deep!

Due to the amount of decay, we decided to remove the veneer and now we can fully appreciate the larger amounts of decay.

The decision to remove the veneer has likely saved this patient from further fractures due to decay, we are now able to provide a uniform restoration, instead of multiple “patch-ups”.