Pink Porcelain for Gum RecessionRebuilding the gum line, so the teeth can keep their proportions.
When gum and bone have been lost, a bridge that rebuilds only the teeth has to make them too long to reach the gum line. Pink porcelain, porcelain shaded to match the gum, rebuilds the gum line instead.
Full arch from $19,000 per arch
$227/month 144 payments at 9.99% APR, on approved credit.
Your consultation, including a 3D X-ray (CT scan), is free.
Send photos if you have them. Either way, we reply with a cost. No obligation.
Ask about pink porcelain
Reviewed by our treatment coordination team. Call or text (310) 770-3335 if you would rather speak now.
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A treatment coordinator will call you within two hours during office hours (Monday to Friday, 9 to 4).
To talk now, call (310) 770-3335.
- A call within two hours during office hours.
- A written cost from us, before you commit to anything.
- No obligation. Many patients take weeks to decide. That is normal.
- Free consultation and 3D X-ray (CT scan)
- Private practice since 2012
- IV sedation in our own office
- In-house dental laboratory
Before, and after.
Every smile on this site was made here: our patients, our laboratory, our work.
Why lost gum makes new teeth look long.
This page explains what pink porcelain is, when it is needed, what decides whether it looks natural, how it compares with gum grafting, and what it costs.
The gum follows the bone beneath it. Gum disease, infection, failed implants and years without teeth all take bone, and the gum line recedes with it. People rarely pursue extensive dental work until something has already gone wrong, and whatever that something was, it has almost always taken gum with it.
A bridge that rebuilds only the teeth onto a receded gum line leaves teeth that are far too long. That is where the horse-toothed look in full-arch work comes from. Proportion is what the eye assesses first, before shade or shape or anything else.
Long teeth also lose the papilla, the small triangle of tissue that fills the space between one tooth and the next. Without those triangles the restoration meets the gum along a straight line, and a straight line does not occur in a natural mouth.
What pink porcelain is.
Pink porcelain is porcelain shaded to match gum rather than tooth, which the ceramist builds into the bridge wherever the patient has lost gum. It restores the gum line and the papilla between the teeth, so the teeth above it can keep natural proportions instead of stretching to reach the tissue.
It is part of the bridge, not a separate piece. The teeth and the gum are built on the same framework and fixed in place together: on a full arch, a framework milled in titanium, as in this case and this one; on two missing front teeth, a four-unit zirconia bridge, as in this case.
Why it is layered. Pink porcelain looks artificial when a laboratory lays it down as one flat shade of pink. The ceramist in our laboratory builds it in layers, the same way he builds the teeth, so the color varies the way tissue varies and the papilla carries real depth instead of a painted-on line.
When teeth alone cannot reach the gum line.
Pink porcelain is needed when the gum line has receded so far that teeth alone would have to be made too long to reach it, and long teeth with no gum between them look artificial.
In this case, gum disease had left long, uneven teeth under an old six-unit bridge, and the teeth holding it had a poor outlook. Dr. Mehdizadeh removed them and placed four implants in the upper arch. The bridge on them carries pink porcelain, which let the teeth be built in natural proportions and matched in color to her own back teeth.
In another, nine hopeless teeth and two failed implants came out of the upper arch and five implants went in, around natural teeth that were sound. The pink porcelain on the new bridge restores the papilla between the teeth instead of meeting them along a straight line.
On a full arch, this one detail decides whether the result looks restored or looks replaced, and it took most of the design attention in this case: the papilla shaped in three dimensions and shaded the way tissue shades, rather than a flat pink band along the margin.
Pink porcelain or a gum graft.
The alternative to pink porcelain is to rebuild the tissue itself with grafting, where the site will support it. Grafting rebuilds the support the gum sits on, and where the loss is small it gives back real tissue. Where the loss is large, exactly where a grafted gum line will settle is harder to predict, and in the most visible part of the mouth that matters. Large grafts also add surgery and months of healing.
In this case, infection after two failed root canals had destroyed bone and gum around two upper front teeth. After the extractions, grafting and healing, Dr. Mehdizadeh assessed the ridge: it would not reliably support implants in that position. A four-unit zirconia bridge with pink porcelain replaced both the teeth and the gum line.
How much gum shows. The smile line matters as well. How high the upper lip rises when you smile decides how much gum is seen, and so how much of the pink porcelain, and the place where it meets your own gum, will show.
How much is missing. Where gum has been lost across a whole arch, pink porcelain is how the gum line is rebuilt in the full-arch cases on this site. Where one or two teeth are involved and the bone and gum can be rebuilt, bone grafting may come first and pink porcelain may not be needed at all. Dr. Mehdizadeh decides between them from the 3D X-ray (CT scan) and the examination.
Cleaning, and what wears.
Pink porcelain restores how the gum looks. The tissue under the bridge is still your own, and it stays healthy only if it is cleaned. A bridge with pink porcelain is designed so floss or a small brush can reach underneath it, and it is cleaned every day with a floss threader or a water flosser, with regular checkups.
The bridge takes the bite every day, so how long it serves depends on the bite staying balanced and on the tissue around the implants staying healthy. Porcelain wears, and in time it needs renewing.
What a bridge with pink porcelain costs.
Pink porcelain is part of the bridge, so it is priced within the case. Full-arch options start at $19,000 per arch, in PMMA on a milled titanium bar. The full-arch cases on this page with pink porcelain had one of these two options.
Full arch, hand-layered zirconia
$287/month
$24,000 per arch
$42,000 both arches
144 payments at 9.99% APR, on approved credit.
The cases replacing acrylic implant teeth with porcelain and rebuilding both arches on eight implants had this option.
Full arch, Complex Reconstruction
$407/month
$34,000 per arch
$58,000 both arches
144 payments at 9.99% APR, on approved credit.
Also includes removing failed implants, grafting and sinus work. The cases rebuilding an upper arch after gum disease and rebuilding an upper arch around the teeth worth keeping had this option.
Each full-arch price includes the surgery, IV sedation, extractions, temporary teeth and the follow-up visits until the final teeth are delivered. A pink-porcelain bridge on natural teeth is quoted as a case: this one was $24,000.
The consultation, including a 3D X-ray (CT scan), is complimentary. Most PPO plans contribute toward the cost of treatment. Financing is available.
One doctor, from consultation to final teeth.
Dr. Mehdizadeh places the implants, performs any bone grafting they need, and designs the teeth and the gum line that go on them. The ceramist in our laboratory, in the same building, layers the porcelain by hand.
Find out what your new smile would cost.
Tell us what is going on. Add photos if you have them; if not, we will call and talk it through.
Or call (310) 770-3335.
Ask about pink porcelain
Reviewed by our treatment coordination team. Call or text (310) 770-3335 if you would rather speak now.
Request received
A treatment coordinator will call you within two hours during office hours (Monday to Friday, 9 to 4).
To talk now, call (310) 770-3335.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is pink porcelain?
It is porcelain shaded to match gum rather than tooth, which the ceramist builds into the bridge wherever the patient has lost gum. It restores the gum line and the papilla between the teeth, so the teeth above it can keep natural proportions instead of stretching to reach the tissue.
When is pink porcelain needed?
When gum and bone have receded so far that teeth alone would have to be made too long to reach the gum line. It is most often part of a full-arch implant bridge, and it can also be part of a bridge on natural teeth, as in one of the cases on this page.
Does pink porcelain look fake up close?
It does when a laboratory lays it down as one flat shade of pink. The ceramist builds it in layers here, the same way he builds the teeth, so the color varies the way tissue varies and the papilla carries real depth instead of a painted-on line.
Is pink porcelain better than a gum graft?
Neither is better in every case. Grafting rebuilds your own tissue and suits smaller losses where the site will support it. Pink porcelain suits larger losses, where a grafted gum line is hard to predict, and loss across a whole arch. How much gum your smile shows is part of the decision.
Why do some full-arch bridges look like horse teeth?
Because nobody rebuilt the gum that the patient lost. If a bridge carries only teeth and the gum line sits higher than it once did, every tooth has to run long enough to reach it. Long teeth with no papilla between them produce the look people recognize instantly as dental work, even when they cannot say why.
How do I clean a bridge with pink porcelain?
Daily cleaning under the bridge with a floss threader or a water flosser, plus regular checkups to keep the gum and the implants or supporting teeth healthy.
How much does pink porcelain cost?
It is priced as part of the bridge, not on its own. Full-arch options start at $19,000 per arch. $227/month: 144 payments at 9.99% APR, on approved credit. The full-arch cases on this page had the hand-layered zirconia option, $24,000 per arch, or Complex Reconstruction, $34,000 per arch.
Last Updated: October 2026