Aesthetic crown lengthening: a step by step surgical guide and biologic considerations.

For years now, dentistry has been in the aesthetics business. We have been talking about and offering dental restorations that look as close as possible to natural teeth-or perhaps look even better. We have been bleaching, veneering, and crowning in an effort to meet patient demand and expectations of that elusive "perfect smile." As these restorative treatments evolved, we became better at creating more translucent porcelains and composites, brighter shades, better color matching tools with the advent of electronic color matching, and more talented dental technicians-we are literally creating works of art. Yet some of this "art work" still falls short of the mark (Figure 1). Why is this? In many cases it is because we have forgotten to choose a frame that is deserving of our artwork.