Periodontal (Gum and Bone) Gallery

This patient was unhappy with her gummy smile. The gum tissues covered up too much of the teeth, making the teeth look too short.

The yellow arrow above is pointing to an area where this patient has suffered some bone loss. The dark area indicates that the bone is not as dense and without treatment the prognosis for this tooth would be poor.

This is another case of a gummy smile. The gum tissue covered up too much of the teeth, which caused them to look short.

What is unusual about this case is the unevenness of the tissue height in the two front teeth.

This patient is missing a lot of gum tissue around the neck of the tooth with the white arrow. In this case, it is necessary to do a gingival graft, which requires taking tissue from a site right next to the area missing the tissue or from the roof of the mouth, which contains plenty of healthy tissue. The yellow arrows are pointing to the line of healthy attached tissue, which is needed for the ongoing health of the teeth and underlying bone. You can see how much space there is between the yellow arrows and the neck of the tooth and how little space there is between the white arrow and the neck of the tooth.

The tissue at the gumline of the tooth with the red arrow is not only very red but it is missing what is called the “attached tissue.” Without this tissue, bone loss is likely to occur. This patient does have attached tissue on the other teeth, from the neck of the tooth to the line that the green arrows indicating.

The large mass that you see above is simply an overgrowth of bone. It occurs in about 20% of the population. It only needs to be removed for cosmetic reasons, if it interferes with speech, or if a removal appliance such as a denture needs to be made.