Is a crown lengthening something i have to have done? after having most of my tooth ground down for the the permanent crown after my temporary crown was removed, i was told that i will need a crown lengthening in order for the permanent crown to fit prope

The : The dentist restoring that tooth has to be able to fit that crown on solid tooth structure. The edge of the new crown has to be in harmony with your bone and gum tissue. If the dentist tries to make the edge of the crown too far below the gum surface to grab onto the tooth, he/she will be invading a very sensitive space. Violating this space can cause many, many problems for you, including pain, bleeding, swelling, inflammation, food trapping, and bone loss. If your tooth is as broken down as you say, then the tooth lengthening is probably necessary. Insurance doesn't alway cover every part of your treatment, and patients need to understand that that is not the dentist's fault... Its how the policies are written. The alternative is to extract the tooth and place an implant, but that would be far more expensive than the treatment you have described.

If : If there is not enough tooth height to retain crown, and would be after adding retention grooves into the design then yes you need crown lengthening. There is no point paying for a crown that is not going to stay in place. I am concerned that you don't have all the information you need to make an informed decision. When we start preparing a tooth for a crown we know right away if there is going to be enough structure to support a crown. That being the case the margin of the crown can be reduced below the gumline immediately by using a curettage diamond. Finally expensive of not, you need to get you teeth repaired well. Dr neil mcleod dds dentistry that lasts - quality that counts.

May be: I am not familiar with your, but i will get an second opinion. The reason for that they should have been told you that before they put the temporary crown.

Crown lengthening: Crown lengthening is needed when there is insufficient healthy tooth remain for a crown to seal the tooth on healthy tooth structure. However, if you are prone to decay, the procedure will expose root surface to the outside and you may end up with more destruction. In that case, you are better off with implant, no decay risk and if the crown lengthening is done, you will have less bone for implant.

Tooth Lenghtening: If the tooth is to short or small to hold a new crown, a crown lenghtening is necessary. It is a normal procedure to make sure your new crown does not fall out.