Symptom Breakdown
What you see & feel
Your teeth appear unusually short, square, or "child-like," and a disproportionately large band of pink gum tissue is highly visible when you smile (a gummy smile). The teeth themselves are not worn down, but they simply look like they never fully grew out of the gums.
Why it happens
When adult teeth erupt during childhood, the gum tissue is supposed to naturally recede upward to reveal the full anatomical crown of the tooth (a process called passive eruption). When this process fails to complete, a thick margin of gum tissue—and sometimes underlying bone—remains draped over the enamel, hiding the true size of the tooth.
Clinical Advice
- Do not brush aggressively to try and force the gums back. This will only cause severe gum inflammation (gingivitis) and bleeding.
- While primarily an aesthetic concern, the thick overlapping gums can create deep pseudo-pockets that trap plaque, making you more susceptible to chronic gum disease.
Treatment Note
Aesthetic clinical crown lengthening (gingivectomy with or without minor osseous recontouring) to permanently remove the excess tissue and reveal the natural enamel.
Reveal the True Size of Your Smile
Your perfect smile might already be there, simply hiding beneath an excess layer of gum tissue. Unlike complex restorative procedures, treating altered passive eruption does not require cutting into your tooth structure or adding anything artificial (like veneers). By carefully and painlessly sculpting the gum line using advanced soft-tissue lasers or microsurgery, we can instantly reveal the full, beautiful enamel underneath, dramatically transforming the proportions of your smile. Connect with our aesthetic periodontal panel in Kharadi.