At Whole Dental Wellness in Birmingham and Roseville, gingivectomy is excision of the gingiva, or gum tissue. A gingivectomy is necessary when the gums have grown over the crowns of the teeth, creating deep pockets

These pockets make it hard to clean affected teeth. The procedure involves removing and reshaping this excess gum tissue to eliminate the pockets between the teeth and gums. Following this procedure, more of your tooth will be visible. With good oral hygiene and regular maintenance visits, it is likely that the gingivectomy will stop gum disease progression.

Case Study 1

15 year-old male with gingival enlargement due to poor oral hygiene complicated by braces.

Initial presentation to our office in Roseville – the patient’s gums had grown up over the top of his braces preventing us from placing a wire to continue to straighten his teeth. 2 weeks post gingivectomy. At this point, his wire was replaced and we were able to continue straightening his teeth.

Case Study 2

Don’t be fooled, excess gum tissue can occur anywhere – even around dental implants!

This 60 year old man – who had lower an implant supported fixed dental prosthesis placed two years ago -presented to us with sore gums. Due to poor oral hygiene and skipping two years of maintenance visits after he got his “new teeth”, his gum tissue had grown up over the top of his fixed denture requiring a gingivectomy. By gently lifting the excess gum tissue back, you can see all of the plaque and calculus built up on top of the. 2 weeks post gingivectomy the implants and restoration are now easily accessed to clean and adequately care for.

Case Study 3

This sweet, 45 year-old woman came to our office with severe gingival enlargement and gum disease.

For the first phase of treatment (disease control) and gingivectomy Roseville oral specialists completed scaling and root planing, followed by full mouth gingivectomy, and removal of several hopeless teeth that were beyond saving (due to severe bone loss). The photos below were taken just one week following disease control therapy. Note the extreme improvement in the health of her gums. Just 6 weeks after her initial therapy this lovely woman was laughing and smiling again! Now she is on a routine 3 month periodontal maintenance recall and wearing upper and lower partial to replace her missing teeth. She no longer has pain and continues to work on improving her oral health with optimal home care.