What cosmetic dentistry treatment is the best for correcting small teeth? (photo)

judging from the picture, it seems to me that you have short looking teeth because the width and the height of the teeth appear to look the same. Normal looking teeth have a width that is less than the height. Usually this ratio is anywhere from 70% to 80%.

A tooth can look short due to: a) excessive gums or b) the wear and shortening of the edge of the tooth. We need to establish the cause of the short or small teeth before proceeding.

If it's due to excessive gums, then we can perform a laser gum recontouring. We can also consider lengthening the teeth simultaneously with porcelain veneers.

If the actual tooth is small and tiny, we can make them look bigger with porcelain or resin veneers.

I have seen quite a few patients in my practice with very similar issues as yours and I am happy to share with you what I have done for them.

I note that you have very short teeth and hence your smile looks gummy.

The main questions to answer in your case are :

• If it is indeed true that you have short teeth, how much do we lengthen the teeth by?
• How much gum do we have to lift to create a nice result?
• How many teeth do we have to treat?
• Do we simply just lift your gum and leave it as that, or do we want to consider placing veneers on your teeth after lifting the gums?
• And again, how many teeth should be veneered?

These are some of the common questions that i have received from patients in the many cases i have done.

I address these questions with a sophisticated software called Digital Smile Design.

Using this software, and in collaboration with the dental technician, i will virtually design in 3D, your new smile with the proposed new teeth length, shape, alignment and gum height!

This proposed design will then be transferred into your mouth using a plastic mock up temporary material so that you can see how your new teeth shape and height look like, before we even start any treatment.

This helps you to visualize whether your not your proposed new smile fits in harmony with your lips, face and your personality.

I find this to be a powerful and essential tool in my practice to achieve results that are precise and predictable and that exactly matches my patients expectations without any guesswork.

During this design process , the answers to the above questions will be answered and you will have a clear blueprint to move forward in confidence.

Unfortunately there is no one solution or smile design that would fit everyone , because everyones teeth is unique.

Judging just purely from your picture, achieving a good result would involve a combination of both gum lifting as well as veneers, but to be confirmed upon closer examination with xrays and the digital smile design process.

I hope this information helps you, and i wish you all the best in finding a dentist that you can trust and have rapport with!

Kind Regards,

Dr Gerald Tan