Comparison of Three Crown Lengthening Procedures - A Clinical Study

The purpose of clinical crown lengthening is to increase the extent of supragingival tooth structure for restorative or esthetic purposes. The present article aims at comparing three different crown lengthening techniques. This study was conducted in department of periodontics. It included 30 patients, 15 males and 15 females. Patients were equally and randomly divided into three groups. Group I: It included 10 patients treated with gingivectomy. Group II: It included 10 patients treated with apically repositioned flap. Group III: It included 10 patients treated with surgical extrusion using periotome. Length of clinical crown, width of attached gingival and interdental papilla height was recorded preoperatively and postoperatively. There was no change in the width of attached gingiva and minimal change in the interdental papilla height between pre-operative and post-operative measurements in the crown lengthening procedure done by surgical extrusion using periotome when compared to the other conventional surgical procedures. The difference among three techniques was significant (p-0.01). Author concluded that crown lengthening using surgical extrusion technique is effective in grossly fractured teeth and in area where crown structure is less.