It is no secret that dentists are committed to saving teeth. This is why we fill a cavity, instead of pulling the tooth.
Cavities can decay the tooth to the point where a restoration is virtually impossible without a procedure called crown lengthening. Crown lengthening is a routine surgical procedure, which remodels the contour of the gum line and underlying bony architecture. This procedure does not actually lengthen the crown, but rather lowers the gum line so more tooth structure is present to work with to fix a tooth. When there is not enough tooth structure to affix a crown, this is the only option. Sometimes a tooth has been broken below the gum line. In this instance, crown lengthening is very successful in exposing more of the tooth structure, so that the dentist has something to work with and a more favorable outcome for the patient.