Aesthetic gum reshaping is a painless procedure that changes the appearance of a gummy smile by recontouring the gums with advanced laser technology.
Unattractive gums can take a bite out of anyone’s self-confidence. There are many reasons why people have issues with the contours of their gums. These include genetics, some prescription drugs and some oral health issues. Whatever the cause, gum reshaping can improve your smile and sometimes improve your oral health as well.
What is gum reshaping?
Gum reshaping is exactly what it sounds like. A dentist in Ealing will reshape your gums to give you attractive and healthy gum contours. What exactly this will involve will depend on the issues identified by your dentist.
For example, if your gums are too high, then your dentist will trim them back. If, however, your gums are too low, your dentist will need to graft tissue from another part of your mouth to make your gums even.
Gum reshaping will not adversely impact the roots of your teeth. In fact, it may even be undertaken as part of a plan of treatment to save a tooth which would otherwise have been lost. Going forward, you can expect to have at least the same degree of oral health as you would have had without the treatment.
How long does gum reshaping take?
This depends on what you have done. As a rule of thumb, an Ealing dental clinic can complete the gum-reshaping procedure in about 1 to 2 hours. Then you would need to allow time for your mouth to recover afterwards.
Again, how long this recovery period will take will depend on what sort of gum reshaping treatment you had done. As a guideline, you should allow 2 to 3 days for the inevitable post-surgery bruising and swelling to reduce. After that, recovery could be anything from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the extent of the surgery.
The dentist will also generally want to have a follow-up appointment even if they don’t have sutures to remove. This gives them a chance to check your progress for themselves and to pick up on any signs of post-surgical infection. This is very rare but if it does happen, then it’s best-treated quickly so make sure to keep this appointment.
Is gum reshaping painful?
If you go to a reputable Ealing dental clinic, you will almost certainly be offered a local anaesthetic. Assuming you accept this, your mouth will be numb for the entire procedure.
Any form of surgery will inevitably create some bruising and swelling. Your dentist will give you tips on how to deal with this. You can expect them to recommend using cold compresses/ice packs to help treat the swelling.
If you’re going to use commercial products, as opposed to regular ice, make sure they are suitable for oral use. You can also use standard over-the-counter painkillers.
You should also expect to have to eat liquid or at least soft foods for the first few days after the surgery. Think about what that means for your eating habits. You might find it helpful to prepare nourishing soup or buy in complete meals to make sure that you eat a healthy diet.
If you’re looking for a trusted, well respected and highly experienced private dentist in Ealing, West London our friendly state-of-the-art clinic can help. Our goal at SSS Ealing Dental and Skin clinic is to provide the highest standards of dental care in a manner tailored to meet your specific needs and wishes.