What Is A Gummy Smile And How Can It Be Fixed

28 July 2022

According to modern beauty standards, a smile is considered attractive and beautiful when the line of the lower edge of the lips passes over the upper edges of the gums and when smiling, the gums are at least 90% covered.

If the gums are widely visible when smiling, and the crown of the teeth is asymmetrical and short compared to the facial contours, the smile loses its attractiveness. Such cases are called "gum smile". 

The causes of a gummy smile depend on various factors such as:

• Lip hypermobility;
• Excessive vertical development of the upper jaw;
• Delayed eruption of teeth;
• Pathological wear of teeth and compensatory cutting (overgrowing).

In the case of lip hypermobility (when the upper lip moves up more than normal) there are two ways of treatment: repositioning  lips with a surgical method or botox injections. In case of vertical overgrowth, orthognathic surgery and orthodontic treatment are recommended. As for teething disorders, there are two forms - passive and active, and the treatment is different.

the so-called "Short teeth" and "gummy smile" are widespread today, and extending the tooth crown at the expense of shortening the gums is a fairly common procedure in dental practice.

During this procedure, the upper part of the tooth needs to be fully exposed. This gives us a visually wider crown surface. There are cases when it is enough to cut the edge of the gum (gingivectomy), but sometimes it is necessary to remove a small part of bone tissue under the gum (osteotomy).

Gingivectomy And Osteotomy

The gingivectomy procedure is quite simple and lasts about 30 minutes. After the operation, the patient soon returns to his usual lifestyle. The wound heals in a few days. The contour line of the gum changes - it looks healthy, the shape and size of the teeth also change - the smile becomes more attractive

"Blits Dental - Kakhaber Kharebava Clinic" recommends to limit the consumption of tobacco after gingivectomy, to speed up tissue healing, as it narrows the capillaries. Along with this, tobacco also reduces the body's resistance to infections.

As for the Osteotomy - it is a surgical operation during which the contour of the gum is corrected by removing part of the bone. Surgeons use this method when soft tissue correction (gum cutting) is not enough to achieve the desired visual effect.

What Causes "Gingival Overgrowth"?

Excessive gum growth can be caused by many reasons. For example, a side effect of long-term use of some medications is overgrowth of the gums. These drugs are: immunosuppressants, calcium channel blockers and anticonvulsants.

Also, it is possible that the gum tissue does not show any pathology and the crowns of the teeth only visually look short and asymmetrical. In such cases, it is a clinical diagnosis - disruption of tooth extraction, which does not harm the general health of the human body, and for aesthetic purposes, of course, this problem can be solved.

There are cases when the patient does not have any diseases of the oral cavity and gums and the size of the crown of the tooth corresponds to the norm, but when smiling, the gum is still more visible than desired. In such a case, there are two alternatives of clinical diagnosis. "Hypermobile upper lip".

In case of pathological (excessive) development of the jaw bone, surgical intervention is performed, which consists in correcting the size of the upper jaw bone and reducing its shape to the desired size. And while we are dealing with a "hypermobile upper lip", dentists often recommend to patients such a non-surgical and non-invasive method as Botox therapy. This approach effectively eliminates the problem and gives the patient the desired result, because the upper lip muscle is partially relaxed with the Botox,  it is no longer able to move and the gum line is covered when smiling.

Experienced and qualified doctors of "Blits Dental - Kakhaber Kharebava dental clinic " will help you maintain oral health and forget about the "gummy smile"  problem with a little cosmetic intervention. At our clinic, you will be provided with a professional consultation. We will answer all your questions and help you get the desired result as quickly and comfortably as possible.