Gum Contouring in Turkey

The aesthetic principle behind it is proportion. A front tooth generally looks right when it is about 10% longer than it is wide, and most people show one to two millimetres of gum when smiling broadly. When the gum sits too low, teeth look short and square even though they are a perfectly normal length — the tooth is simply hidden.

That is why contouring often achieves more than patients expect from such a small procedure. Removing two millimetres of gum across six teeth changes the proportion of every one of them at once.

Why the gum sits low

• Altered passive eruption: the gum never fully receded as the adult teeth came through. The commonest cause, and the easiest to correct.
• Gum overgrowth: from certain medications — some epilepsy, blood pressure and immunosuppressant drugs — or from chronic inflammation.
• A short upper lip, or a lip that lifts unusually high when smiling. Gum surgery helps less here.
• Vertical maxillary excess: the upper jaw is simply longer than average. This is a skeletal problem that gum work cannot fix.

Laser contouring or crown lengthening?

What the package includes

• Examination, X-rays and gum measurement
• Digital smile design showing the planned gum line
• The procedure under local anaesthetic
• Any sutures and dressings needed
• Two nights in a four-star hotel with breakfast
• All airport, hotel and clinic transfers
• A personal English-speaking coordinator
• Antibacterial mouthwash and aftercare pack
• A review appointment before you fly home
• Photographs before and at the final gum position

Travelling for gum contouring alone

Most patients do not. Flights usually cost more than the procedure, so gum contouring makes most sense added to a veneer, crown or whitening trip. When it is part of a smile makeover it is also better dentistry, because the gum line is finalised before impressions are taken for the restorations.

Gum contouring is usually suitable if

• Your teeth look short and square although their length is normal.
• You show more than about three millimetres of gum when you smile broadly.
• Your gum line is uneven, with one or two teeth looking noticeably shorter.
• Your gums are healthy, with no untreated periodontal disease.
• You are having veneers or crowns and want the gum line corrected first.
• You are a non-smoker, or can stop around the procedure.

Gum surgery may not be the answer

• Your gummy smile comes from a long upper jaw: this is skeletal and needs orthognathic surgery or orthodontics, not gum work.
• Your upper lip is very short or hypermobile: lip repositioning or botulinum toxin addresses this instead.
• You have untreated gum disease, which must be stabilised first.
• Your gum overgrowth is caused by medication that has not been reviewed — it will simply recur.
• You already have gum recession elsewhere, where removing more tissue is unwise.
• There is insufficient tooth hidden beneath the gum to make a visible difference.

Our self-check below gives you a starting answer, and a Valentmedica dentist reviews your photographs free of charge and will tell you honestly if the cause is skeletal rather than gingival.

1. Assessment: X-rays and periodontal probing establish where the bone crest sits relative to the enamel junction. This is the step that decides whether tissue alone can be removed.
2. Design: the proposed gum line is drawn on the teeth, following the natural scallop — the gum should sit slightly higher on the canines than on the lateral incisors, not in a straight line.
3. Your approval: you see the marked design in a mirror before anything is removed.
4. Anaesthetic: local anaesthetic numbs the gum. You feel pressure but not pain.
5. Laser removal: a diode or erbium laser removes the excess tissue in small increments, cauterising as it goes. There is a faint smell of burning, which is normal and worth being warned about.
6. Bone recontouring if needed: where the bone sits too close to the enamel, a small flap is raised and 1–2 mm of bone is carefully reduced to restore biological width, then the flap is sutured back.
7. Shaping and checking: the margins are refined and symmetry checked with you sitting upright, not lying back.
8. Dressing: a periodontal dressing is sometimes placed over the area for a few days after crown lengthening. Laser-only cases rarely need one.

• Days 1–3: tenderness and mild swelling. The treated gum looks white or greyish where the laser sealed it, which is normal and sloughs away.
• Days 3–7: discomfort settles. Soft food, lukewarm drinks, and the prescribed antibacterial mouthwash rather than vigorous brushing over the area.
• Weeks 1–2: laser-treated tissue has healed over. Normal brushing can resume gently.
• Weeks 2–4: colour normalises from red to healthy pink.
• Weeks 6–8: the gum reaches its final position. A small amount of rebound is normal; significant rebound suggests the bone was not addressed.
• After 8 weeks: this is the point at which veneer or crown impressions should be taken, so the laboratory works to the settled gum line.

Valentmedica works with licensed dental clinics in Istanbul whose dentists are registered with the Turkish Ministry of Health. Gum contouring is always preceded by probing and X-rays, because the position of the bone — not the appearance of the gum — determines what can safely be removed.

Risks you should know about

• Rebound: the gum grows back within months, usually because bone was not recontoured where it should have been.
• Over-removal: exposing the root surface, causing lasting sensitivity and an unnaturally long tooth.
• Sensitivity: common and usually temporary where the gum has been reduced near the neck of the tooth.
• Asymmetry: the gum line is scalloped, not straight, and small irregularities can persist.
• Infection: uncommon, and managed with the antibacterial mouthwash provided.
• Bleeding: minimal with a laser, more likely where a flap was raised for bone work.
• Recession later: removing tissue reduces the margin available if gums recede naturally with age.
• Black triangles: where gum is removed between teeth, the papilla may not fill the space, leaving a visible gap.

If your gummy smile is caused by a long upper jaw or a hypermobile lip, gum surgery will give a limited result at best. A dentist who proposes a laser without examining the cause is treating the symptom.

Where contouring is combined with veneers or crowns, it must be done before impressions so the laboratory works to the final gum line. Ideally six to eight weeks before, though in practice many single-trip makeovers contour and prepare in the same week and accept a small compromise.

Commonly combined with

• Veneers or crowns: the most common combination. See Hollywood smile.
• Teeth whitening: done after the gums have healed, so bleaching gel does not contact raw tissue.
• Composite bonding: to reshape the newly exposed tooth where the edge is uneven.
• Frenectomy: releasing a tight upper lip frenum that pulls the lip higher or holds a gap between the front teeth.
• Botulinum toxin to the upper lip: for a hypermobile lip, reducing how far it lifts when smiling. A different solution to the same complaint.

If your assessment shows the cause is skeletal, no combination of gum procedures will give the result you want. Your dentist should say so rather than treating anyway.

• Photographs: send a relaxed smile and a broad one, taken straight on in natural light. How much gum shows when you smile fully is the key measurement.
• Gum health: have a hygienist appointment at home first. Contouring inflamed gums gives an unpredictable result.
• Medication: tell your dentist about any epilepsy, blood pressure or immunosuppressant medication — several cause gum overgrowth, and contouring without addressing them means it recurs.
• Smoking: stop around the procedure if you can. Smoking impairs gum healing noticeably.
• Timing: if this is part of a smile makeover, allow six to eight weeks between contouring and veneer impressions where your schedule permits.
• Packing list: soft food, a soft toothbrush and your regular medication.

The visual effect is often larger than the procedure suggests. Exposing two millimetres of enamel across the front six teeth changes the proportion of all of them, and patients frequently describe the result as looking like they had their teeth straightened rather than their gums trimmed.

Maintaining it is ordinary gum care: brush along the gum line twice daily, clean between the teeth, and see a hygienist twice a year. Gum disease is what undoes this result over time, and it undoes it in the wrong direction — recession rather than regrowth. You can see cases photographed at the settled eight-week position in our dental before and after gallery.