Many times, people who show a greater amount of gum when smiling feel dissatisfied with their appearance. This can have a profound impact on self-esteem and confidence. However, there are techniques to achieve a beautiful gummy smile without going through surgery.
What are the causes of a gummy smile?
Before applying a treatment, the specific cause must be determined. Among the most common causes is altered passive eruption, which is characterized by the presence of teeth without proper gum retraction. This causes the gums to appear larger than normal.
Other causes may be that the upper lip is too short or hyperactive (it retracts excessively), that is, it rises too much when smiling. For those people for whom a gummy smile causes concern, it is essential to point out that, in most cases, it has a simple solution.
Treatments to achieve a beautiful gummy smile
Depending on the cause, one treatment or another is recommended:
- Botulinum toxin is a useful tool to prevent the muscles that lift the upper lip of the mouth from excessively showing the gums when smiling. This condition, more common than one might think, is defined when more than 4 mm of gum is visible when smiling. Through a small infiltration, the muscles that lift the lip are blocked, thus achieving a natural correction of the smile.
- For those who have an upper lip that rises too much when smiling, one of the best treatments is hyaluronic acid. With an infiltration, the volume is increased and, therefore, the gum is hidden. It is a temporary solution, but not very painful and with very good results. No surgery is required. If a permanent solution is desired, lip surgery exists.
- If the excess gum comes from an altered passive eruption, the most common approach is to perform a gingivectomy to soften the gummy smile. This procedure involves removing the excess tissue.
What is the treatment to correct a gummy smile like?
The treatment to achieve a beautiful gummy smile is quick, very minimally painful, and can be performed in the aesthetic medicine clinic itself. For example, the technique that uses botulinum toxin has an estimated duration of 15 minutes and provides results that can be seen from the third day and last six months. It does not require anesthesia.
Dr. Alfredo Fernández Blanco
The plastic surgeon Dr. Alfredo Fernandez Blanco stands out in his branch of medicine, as the best breast surgeon, he is also a pioneer in the so-called secondary surgeries or sequelae. With more than 30 years of experience and thousands of successful cases, he continues to achieve the most natural results that can be expected in a cosmetic surgery operation.
