Gummy smile treatment in Medellín

Gummy smile treatment in Medellín — gum contouring with crown lengthening — from $1,200,000 COP per arch, by a periodontist.

Before the price, something that matters more: a gummy smile has four different causes, and only two of them are fixed by touching the gum. Most pages about this treat it as one problem with one solution. It is not, and being treated for the wrong one is how people end up disappointed with a result that went technically well.

Four causes of a gummy smile

Often a gummy smile is a combination — a slightly low gum line and worn teeth, for instance. That case is treated in two steps by two people, in that order, and the second step is planned from the result of the first.

Which one is yours

The cause of a gummy smile is decided by measuring, not by looking at a photograph. The examination establishes how much tooth is hidden under the gum, how long the teeth actually are, and how far your lip travels when you smile naturally — which is not the same as how far it travels when you are asked to smile.

If you are writing from abroad, send a photograph of yourself smiling widely, front on, in daylight. We can usually tell from that which of the four you are probably dealing with, and we will tell you it is probably rather than certainly.

What gum contouring and crown lengthening involve

The clinical name for it is levelling the gingival margins with crown lengthening. The gum line is reshaped under local anaesthetic, in a single appointment, and where the bone underneath has to be recontoured for the result to hold, that is done at the same time. That second part is what decides whether the gum stays where it was put, and it is why this is done by a periodontist.

You will look different the same day, and then the gum settles over the following weeks. We do not photograph a final result before it has finished settling, and if someone shows you a before-and-after taken on the day, that is what you are looking at.

If veneers or bonding are part of the plan, they come after this has settled, not before. Changing the gum line and then matching the teeth to it is the only order that works.

Who does it

What a gummy smile costs to treat

	COP
Gum contouring with crown lengthening, per arch	$1,200,000 – $1,400,000

Prices are in Colombian pesos. We quote in pesos because the exchange rate moves — you can check today’s rate. Charged by arch rather than by tooth, because what the treatment changes is the line across the whole smile. Most gummy smile cases involve the upper arch only. Where the bone has to be recontoured as well, the figure sits at the upper end.

If your case turns out to need teeth rebuilt rather than gum removed, the figures for that are on the cosmetic dentistry page, alongside everything else.

Before you book flights

Send the photograph, tell us the dates you are considering, and we will tell you whether this is one appointment or a plan.

And if your gummy smile turns out to be one of the two causes that gum surgery does not fix, you will hear that from us by message, before you have paid for anything. More about the clinic and the people in it.