Gum Contouring

No. The area is numbed with local anaesthetic before anything starts, and during the procedure you feel pressure rather than pain. Gum tissue is sensitive, so we take time over the numbing rather than rushing it. Afterwards, most patients describe a mild tenderness similar to a scratched palate — noticeable when eating something hot or acidic, easily managed with ordinary painkillers, and gone within a few days. Because the laser seals tissue as it works, there is usually no bleeding and no stitches, which is the main reason recovery feels as minor as it does. If you are anxious about dental treatment generally, say so when you book. It is an extremely common thing to be nervous about and easier to plan around than to manage on the day.

The visible result is there immediately, and most patients go back to normal activity the same afternoon. There is no swelling of the face and nothing that would stop you going out to dinner that evening. What takes longer is the final settling. For the first few days the gum margin looks slightly puffy and paler than usual along the treated edge. Over one to two weeks the tissue tightens and the colour returns to normal, and that is when you are seeing the true final contour. This matters if you are timing the procedure around an event. If you want to look your best for a wedding or a photograph, allow two weeks rather than two days — not because anything looks wrong before then, but because the last few percent of refinement happens in that window.

Not to where it was. When excess gum tissue is removed properly, the new margin is stable and the result is considered permanent. This is why the planning stage matters as much as the procedure: gum tissue does not grow back on request, so the line has to be right before anything is removed. There is a small amount of natural rebound in the first days as the tissue settles, and we account for that when marking the new margin. What can change the gumline later is gum disease, which causes recession rather than regrowth, and that pulls tissue away from the teeth rather than back over them. Keeping your gums healthy with ordinary brushing, flossing and regular check-ups is what protects the result long term.

Enough to make a substantial difference to how your smile looks, and not so much that it compromises the tooth. There is a biological limit — a band of tissue and bone that attaches to each tooth and has to stay intact — and working within it is what separates a result that stays healthy from one that causes problems later. In practice, most gummy smile and asymmetry cases fall comfortably within that limit, and the change is dramatic even when the amount of tissue removed is small. A millimetre at the gumline changes the apparent length of a tooth far more than most people expect. This is assessed before treatment, not during it. We will tell you at the consultation what is achievable in your case rather than promising a result and discovering the constraint halfway through.

Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people ask about it. A gummy smile is usually a proportion problem rather than a tooth problem — the teeth are a normal size, but too much gum tissue covers them, so they read as short and the smile reads as gum-heavy. Reshaping the margin exposes more of the natural tooth and rebalances that ratio. The effect is immediate and often more dramatic than patients expect from a procedure that takes under an hour, because the eye is extremely sensitive to gumline symmetry even when people cannot articulate what is bothering them. At the consultation we will look at how much gum shows when you smile naturally rather than when you are asked to smile, since those are rarely the same thing.

Yes, and this is how most of our patients do it. Gum contouring takes one appointment and adds no extra days to your trip. The sequence matters, though. Where you are having veneers or crowns, the contouring is done first so the restorations can be made to the new gumline rather than the old one. A veneer built to an uneven margin will always look slightly off, however good the veneer itself is — the gum is the frame, and the frame has to be right before the picture goes in. Whitening is more flexible and can be done either side. If you are planning a combination, tell us at the assessment stage so the appointments are sequenced properly rather than fitted in around each other.

Usually not. Contouring removes soft tissue rather than exposing root surface, so the sensitivity that people associate with gum recession does not generally apply. Some patients notice mild sensitivity to hot and cold for a few days at the treated teeth, particularly where a larger amount of tissue was reshaped. It settles as the margin heals. A sensitive-teeth toothpaste helps if it bothers you, though most people do not need one. If sensitivity is sharp rather than mild, or persists beyond a couple of weeks, contact us — it is uncommon and worth looking at rather than waiting out.

For cosmetic reshaping of the front teeth, the laser is better, and it is what we use. It cuts and seals simultaneously, so there is minimal bleeding, usually no stitches, and a cleaner field to work in — which matters because the dentist can see exactly what is being shaped as it happens rather than working through bleeding tissue. Precision is the real argument. Gumline symmetry is judged by eye at conversational distance, and a fraction of a millimetre on a front tooth is visible. The laser allows that level of control and a more predictable healing margin. Scalpel technique remains appropriate in some situations, particularly where a larger amount of tissue is being repositioned rather than removed. It is a well established approach and the results are good — the trade-off is more bleeding during and a slightly longer settling period after.

No. Gum tissue heals differently from skin and does not scar the way a cut on your arm does. The treated margin looks slightly paler for the first days and then returns to normal colour and texture as it heals. What determines whether the result looks natural is the shape of the line, not the healing. A gumline that follows the natural scalloped contour around each tooth looks like gum. One cut straight across does not, regardless of how well it heals — which is why the marking stage takes as long as it does. Within a couple of weeks there is generally nothing to indicate that anything was done, other than the proportions looking right.

Yes, and single-tooth cases are more common than full-arch ones. Often the issue is one lateral incisor sitting a millimetre lower than its twin on the other side — barely describable, but the eye picks it up immediately and the smile reads as asymmetric. Those cases are quick, sometimes fifteen or twenty minutes, and the change is disproportionate to the effort. Patients frequently say it is the thing they should have done years earlier. We would rather adjust one tooth well than reshape six for the sake of doing more. If one is what your smile needs, that is what we will recommend.

Nothing dramatic, and nothing for long. For the first day or two, avoid very hot food and drink, anything acidic like citrus or vinegar, spicy food, and alcohol — all of which sting a healing margin. Stick to lukewarm and mild and you will barely notice. Brush normally but gently around the treated area, and do not poke at it with your tongue, which is the instruction everyone finds hardest to follow. Avoid smoking if you can, since it slows healing of gum tissue specifically. You will leave with written aftercare instructions covering all of this, and a contact number if anything does not feel right. Normal brushing and flossing resume within a few days, and after two weeks there are no restrictions at all.