A Review of the Crown Lengthening Surgery; The Basic Concepts

Clinical crown of the tooth is the distance from gingival margin to incisal edge or occlusal surface of the tooth. A short clinical crown is defined as any tooth with less than 2 mm of sound, opposing parallel walls remaining after occlusal and axial reduction. Although implants have reasonably high success rate, recent literature showed that keeping patient’s tooth has numerous benefits. Crown lengthening is a surgical procedure designed to increase the extent of the supragingival tooth structure, so that the clinician can restore the tooth. The aim of the current study is to review the implications of CL in routine dental practice. To reach this aim, diagnosis requirements, restorative procedures after crown lengthening, stability of crown lengthening and esthetic crown lengthening are discussed in different sessions.