It’s all about the gums…

I write a lot about gums and gum shaping in my blogs and this is because of the important part gums have to play in the health of teeth and also dental implants. This is even more important when providing replacement dental implant supported teeth at the front of the mouth. The natural curvature of the gum line has to be carefully mimicked around dental implants to ensure the natural union between gums and teeth is copied onto the replacement teeth.

Why is this important? Not only does it make the replacement tooth look natural like the adjacent teeth but it also helps to provide a naturally cleansable area around the replacement tooth with fewer micro gaps for food and bacteria to accumulate. This close union between gums and teeth is crucial but can also be challenging to get right. In some patients we must spend a lot longer in manipulating the gums to provide these precise gum contours whereas in other patients it is a much quicker and ‘simpler’ process. Every patient has a different ‘biotype’ – this is the term used to describe the genetically coded ‘thickness’ or ‘thinness’ of an individual’s gums. As well as this, every individual has a different level of keratinised tissue, this is the ‘pinker’ type of gum tissue that provides better protection and stability around natural and replacement teeth alike. These parameters are carefully assessed for each patient to help our dental team plan the correct approach when aiming to recreate natural and healthy gum contours around replacement dental implant supported teeth.

The long term success of dental implants is heavily reliant on the gums and this is probably why I am so fascinated by the subject of gum contours in implant dentistry.

Thank you for reading,

Mohsin Patel