Gum Contouring in Chicago: What It Costs, What It Fixes, and Who's a Good Candidate
By Dr. Brittany Dickinson | Chicago Aesthetic Dentistry, Lakeview
About half the patients who walk into my office unhappy with their smile have something in common: they blame the wrong thing.
They tell me their teeth are too short. Too small. Too uneven. Too "lost" in the smile.
And about half the time, they're only half right. The teeth aren't the problem. The gum line is. There's either too much gum showing when they smile, or the gum heights are uneven from one tooth to the next, making the teeth look short, square, or asymmetrical — even though the underlying tooth structure is completely fine.
You can spend a lot of money veneering teeth that don't need to be veneered, trying to fix what's actually a gum-proportion issue. Or you can spend about 30 minutes in a chair, let me gently reshape the gum line with a soft-tissue laser, and watch the smile transform — sometimes without touching a single tooth.
That's gum contouring. It's one of the most underused tools in cosmetic dentistry, and in my practice it's quietly become one of the highest-impact procedures I offer — both as a standalone refinement and as the finishing touch after Invisalign, on a veneer case or smile makeover.
Here's what it costs, what it actually fixes, and how to tell — in about 60 seconds — whether you're a candidate.
What Gum Contouring Actually Is
Gum contouring goes by several names. Laser gum reshaping. Gingival recontouring. Gum lift. Cosmetic gum surgery. They all refer to the same procedure: gently reshaping the gum tissue around your teeth to create a more balanced, proportionate smile.
In my office, I do it with a soft-tissue dental laser. The laser sculpts the gum line precisely while sealing the tissue as it works. That changes the experience completely from old-school scalpel gum surgery:
Virtually painless. Most patients describe the sensation as warm or tingling — not cutting or pulling. A topical anesthetic on the gums is usually all the numbing required.
No stitches. The laser cauterizes as it sculpts, so there's no suturing afterward.
Minimal bleeding. The same cauterizing effect controls bleeding in real time.
Heals in days, not weeks. Most patients are fully healed within a week. Soreness, when it's there at all, is usually mild and limited to the first day or two.
About 30 minutes in the chair for most cases.
For decades, "gum reshaping" meant scalpels, sutures, and a multi-week recovery. The laser changed all of that. What used to be a referral-out procedure with significant downtime is now something I can do in a single 30-minute appointment in my own office.
What Gum Contouring Costs in Chicago
I price gum contouring transparently and all-in — meaning the fee I quote you up front is the fee you pay. No surprise add-ons, no separate periodontal billing, no "we'll figure out the rest after." Starting points in my practice:
Single-tooth touch-up — from $250*
Smile-zone reshape (3–6 teeth) — from $750*
Full upper smile contouring — from $1,000*
Paired with veneers or a smile makeover — the gum work is built into the overall smile design plan, not layered on as a separate referral cost.
For most patients, cosmetic gum contouring is not covered by dental insurance regardless of provider — because it's a cosmetic procedure. In the rare cases where reshaping crosses into medically necessary territory, some plans may contribute. We'll be straightforward with you about what to expect before treatment begins.
We also offer low- to no-interest financing through CareCredit® and accept all major credit cards.
Who Gum Contouring Is Right For
You're likely a strong candidate if you see yourself in one of these:
You have a "gummy smile." When you smile naturally, more gum shows than you'd like. Often this isn't because the gums are abnormal — it's because the upper lip rises higher than average, revealing gum tissue that's usually hidden. Reshaping the gum line creates the illusion of longer, more proportioned teeth without changing anything about your lip.
Your gum line is uneven from one tooth to the next. One front tooth looks shorter or longer than its neighbor. The two front teeth sit at different gum heights. The canines look uneven with the laterals. These small asymmetries are exactly what your eye notices when a smile feels off — even if you can't name why.
Your teeth look short. They may not actually be short. They may just be partially covered by excess gum tissue. Reshaping the gum can reveal tooth length that was already there.
You're planning veneers or a smile makeover. This is the most important use case, and the one most cosmetic dentists overlook. More on this below — it's the reason I keep gum contouring in-house instead of referring it out.
You've been told you need "crown lengthening" for cosmetic reasons. In many cosmetic cases, what's really needed is gum contouring — a lighter, in-chair, laser-based reshape — not full surgical crown lengthening.
You're probably not a candidate if:
Your gummy smile is caused by jaw position or muscle activity, not gum tissue. Some gummy smiles need orthodontics, Botox, or in rare cases orthognathic surgery — not gum reshaping. I'll tell you honestly at your consultation if that's your situation.
You don't have enough attached gum tissue to safely reshape. The laser is precise, but it still needs healthy tissue to work with.
You're hoping to fix a tooth that erupted partially. That's typically a different procedure — a true surgical crown lengthening — not cosmetic gum contouring.
Why I Do This Procedure Myself, In My Own Office
This is the part of the conversation that almost no other Chicago cosmetic dentist is having with their patients, and it's the reason I keep gum contouring in-house instead of referring it out.
I design every smile in my practice using a philosophy I call Facially Driven Smile Design. I don't design teeth in isolation. I design them in relation to your face shape, your jawline, and the way your upper lip drapes over your teeth when you talk, smile, and rest. The teeth and gums sit inside a frame — your face — and they only look right when they're balanced to that frame.
The gum line is part of that frame.
Here's what changes when you start thinking about smiles this way:
Tooth length is a gum decision as much as a tooth decision. If your upper lip drapes high when you smile and your gum line sits low on the teeth, your teeth will look short no matter what you do to the tooth itself. The fix isn't longer veneers — it's a higher, more refined gum line. Otherwise the veneers come out bulky, square, and overdone.
Gum symmetry matters more than tooth symmetry. The eye notices asymmetry in the gum line before it notices asymmetry in the teeth. A patient can have beautifully shaped veneers and still look "off" because the gum heights weren't matched correctly to the face..
Upper lip drape sets the rules. How much of your tooth — and how much of your gum — is visible when you smile is dictated by how your upper lip moves. I design the gum line in relation to that movement. If I reshape gum tissue without watching your lip in motion, I'm guessing.
This is why I do gum contouring myself, in my own office, on the same day or in the same visit cluster as the rest of the cosmetic work. The gum line is a design element, not a separate procedure. Handing it off to another office means handing off part of the smile design — and that's not how I work.
If you've ever looked at someone's "perfect" veneers and thought something is off, but I can't tell what — about 70% of the time, it's the gum line. Either the proportions are wrong, or the symmetry isn't there. Most of those cases were planned without the gums being considered as part of the design.
Gum Contouring + Veneers: Why They Pair So Well
The most common version of gum contouring in my practice isn't standalone — it's gum contouring paired with porcelain veneers in a smile makeover.
Here's why they're a natural pair:
We're already designing the smile from scratch. When we're planning veneers, we're already deciding tooth length, shape, edge position, and proportion. Adding the gum line to that conversation costs almost no extra time — and it changes the final result dramatically.
The veneers can be shorter and more natural-looking. If we reshape the gum line first (or simultaneously), the tooth has the right vertical proportion before we add porcelain. The veneer doesn't have to overcompensate by being long or bulky. The final teeth look refined instead of overbuilt — and crucially, they don't look fake.
The midline and gum line can be aligned to the face, not the existing teeth. Most patients have a slightly off-center smile, slightly canted gum line, or asymmetric arch — small things they've stopped noticing. With contouring + veneers, we get to reset everything to your face, not to where the teeth happened to grow in.
One healing window, not two. When done together, the gum work heals during the same window that we're preparing veneers in the lab. By the time the final veneers are bonded, the gum tissue has settled into its new position.
In practice, this looks like one or two visits where the gum contouring happens first, you heal for a few days to a couple of weeks, and then we move into the veneer phase. For smaller cases, we sometimes do everything in a tighter sequence over the same visit cluster.
What to Expect at Your Appointment
Consultation + photos. You come in. We talk through what's bothering you about your smile. I take a series of photos — full-face, smile in motion, retracted views. I want to see how your upper lip drapes over your teeth when you smile naturally, because that's what dictates the gum line we'll design.
Digital mockup. For most patients, I'll build a digital preview so you can see the projected gum line and tooth proportions before we touch anything. If we're combining contouring with veneers, you'll see the full smile design — both gum and tooth changes — at this stage.
The procedure. On treatment day, we apply a topical anesthetic to the gum tissue. Some patients also opt for a small amount of local anesthetic, but many don't need it. The laser sculpts the gum line precisely, following the design we agreed on. The entire treatment usually takes about 30 minutes — sometimes less.
Healing. You leave the office with detailed aftercare instructions. Most patients describe the first day as mildly sore — similar to a minor scrape — and the discomfort resolves quickly. Soft foods for a day or two, gentle brushing around the area, and you're typically fully healed within a week.
Follow-up. I'll see you back for a quick check on healing and any micro-refinement if needed. If we're combining with veneers, this is also when we transition into the veneer planning phase.
The Short Version
If you've been quietly unhappy with your smile and you've been blaming your teeth — try blaming your gum line for a second. Look in the mirror and notice how much of your tooth is covered by gum. Notice whether the gum heights match across your two front teeth. Notice whether your teeth look short because they're short, or short because the gum is sitting low on them.
About half the time, the fix isn't veneers, isn't whitening, isn't Invisalign. It's 30 minutes with a laser and a steady hand. The rest of the time, gum contouring is the quiet finishing touch that makes everything else — veneers, bonding, the whole smile — finally look right.
If you'd like to know which half you're in, book a smile design consultation and let's take a look together.
Dr. Brittany Dickinson is a cosmetic dentist in Lakeview, Chicago, and a member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD). She designs every smile using Facially Driven Smile Design — a philosophy that positions teeth and gums in relation to face shape, jawline, and upper lip drape rather than to a textbook ideal. Learn more about gum contouring, porcelain veneers, or her overall approach to cosmetic dentistry.