A gummy smile does not affect your oral health or get in the way of chewing. But showing a lot of gum when you smile makes many people feel very self-conscious. That is why more and more people are looking into gummy smile surgery to correct it and get a perfect smile.
1. What is a gummy smile?
A gummy smile, also called excessive gum display, is a condition where too much of the upper gums shows when you smile. It looks unattractive and lowers your confidence when talking to people.
2. What causes a gummy smile?
- Short tooth crowns: incomplete tooth eruption shows up as short, small, square teeth and a gummy smile.
- Short upper lip: a short upper lip can show up as lips that do not close fully at rest and gums that show when smiling.
- Overactive upper lip muscle: because the muscle around the lips or the muscle that lifts the lip is not fully developed, the upper lip is pulled up too high when smiling.
- Overgrown upper jaw: here the gummy smile usually comes with protruding front teeth, the bone over the tooth sockets can be seen bulging under the gums when smiling, and the face has a protruding profile.
3. Types of gummy smile
Based on how much gum shows when smiling, a gummy smile is divided into 4 levels:
- Mild gummy smile: when smiling, more than 3mm of gum tissue shows, but less than 25% of the tooth length.
- Moderate gummy smile: when smiling, the gum tissue that shows is more than 25% and less than 50% of the tooth length.
- Severe gummy smile: when smiling, the gum tissue that shows is more than 50% and less than 100% of the tooth length.
- Very severe gummy smile: when smiling, the gum tissue that shows is more than 100% of the tooth length.
4. How is a gummy smile treated?
The right treatment depends on the cause of the gummy smile, and several methods can also be combined to get a good aesthetic result.
- If the cause is short tooth crowns, the treatment is crown lengthening surgery, the most common method. Crown lengthening is done by trimming the gums or moving them toward the root, and the bone around the upper teeth may be reshaped (if needed).
- If the cause is a short upper lip, the treatment is lip lengthening surgery on the upper lip, performed by a cosmetic surgery specialist.
- If the cause is an overactive upper lip muscle, it is treated by weakening that muscle with botulinum toxin injections (a cosmetic medicine treatment), or by cutting the muscle and repositioning it.
- A gummy smile caused by an overgrown upper jaw and very thick socket bone is the hardest to treat. Orthodontic treatment pulls the upper teeth back to reduce the protrusion and the gummy smile, and gum trimming may be needed after the orthodontics. In severe cases, surgery to move the upper jaw up is needed, which improves both the face and the smile.