Gummy smiles, also known as excessive gingival display, may arise for various reasons. Most often this involves issues surrounding teeth, lips and jaws – components which play an integral part in creating your visual smile aesthetics.
If the cause of the misalignment lies within misalignments in bite or jaw development, orthodontic treatments such as braces or clear aligners may help. But for more permanent solutions, crown lengthening could offer a permanent fix by reshaping and exposing more of each tooth’s crown.
1. Change Your Mouth Position
If your gums show when smiling, it may cause self-consciousness. Luckily, there are various techniques for rectifying a gummy smile; some require visiting a dentist while others can be done at home without incurring additional costs. Finding out the source of your problem and selecting an effective remedy will depend on its cause; common ones include excessive gum tissue build-up, short or hyperactive upper lips, small or undersized teeth or misaligning jaw and teeth alignment issues.
One simple way to change your mouth position is to close your lips more when smiling; this will cause your gums to cover more of your teeth, decreasing the appearance of gummy smiles. A toothbrush can also help encourage stretched-out gums that cover more teeth when smiling.
Laser gum procedures offer another solution, by extracting excess gum tissue to make your teeth appear longer while improving the balance between tooth-to-gum ratio in your smile. Crown lengthening procedures also make teeth appear longer by trimming crown parts that make teeth appear longer; and lip repositioning surgery uses botox-like injections into upper lip muscles in order to hide more gums when smiling.
Orthognathic surgery may be recommended when there are severe or moderate issues with the bite and/or an overgrowth of upper jaw that causes gummy smile. It’s an incisional surgical process which may be combined with orthodontic care or performed alone as necessary.
To determine how best to repair your gummy smile, the best approach is to consult with a dentist in Claremore or Tulsa and schedule an appointment. They will be able to give the most accurate assessment as to the cause and treatment options for it.
2. Exercise Your Lips
Having a short upper lip can expose more gum tissue when you smile. Thankfully, there are steps you can take to fix this problem; one simple strategy involves massaging the wings of your nose along the corners of your mouth with your index finger for 30 seconds to help the muscles in your lip relax and cover more teeth when smiling.
An easy solution is to brush your teeth more often with a soft-bristled toothbrush. Doing this will allow you to safely and gently remove plaque from the surfaces of your teeth without harming their enamel. Be sure to cover all surfaces of your teeth, such as chewing surfaces; but remember not to overdo it, since overbrushing could result in further plaque build-up and an increased gum line.
Make sure to floss at least twice per day and visit the dentist regularly for professional cleanings, to remove plaque and bacteria from your teeth and avoid the build-up of tartar that causes inflammation of gums. Flossing helps you do just this.
Gummy smiles may be caused by various factors, with genetics often being the culprit. Other potential culprits could include:
If excessive gum tissue has you feeling self-conscious about your smile, don’t despair – there are several effective solutions available! Talk to your dentist and discuss the most suitable options available to you.
Orthodontic treatment such as braces or clear aligners can correct misalignments between teeth and jaws that lead to an excessively gummy smile. Dental crown lengthening and gingivectomy surgeries can reshape your gum line to expose more teeth for a balanced smile, while lip repositioning aims at covering more of your gum tissue when you smile – something lip injectables such as Botox can do. Finally, lip injectables like Botox may relax elevator muscle strength so as to limit how much gum tissue will show when smiling gummy smiles in this way.
3. Change Your Brushing Technique
Gummy smiles may not affect everyone, but they can be an insecurity-inducing source. Luckily, there are numerous non-invasive solutions to address gummy smiles; Germantown Dental Group provides many effective options that may work. To discuss which treatments might best fit your situation and find out which will be most successful for you – schedule an appointment with them now.
Your dentist will be able to assess your gummy smile and find a solution tailored specifically to you. Most solutions involve readjusting proportions between teeth, lips, and jaws–three essential components of an attractive smile–in order to create more balanced proportions between these components and make an attractive smile more likely. Treatments will differ, though typically they involve some combination of cosmetic dentistry, orthodontics or jaw surgery as appropriate solutions.
Gummy smiles are usually caused by excessive gum tissue, making your teeth appear short and overly prominent. This could be the result of genetics, over-grinding your teeth or taking medications which lead to gingival hypertrophy. A short upper lip may also expose more gum tissue than normal.
Your dentist can help improve the appearance of your gummy smile by performing a procedure known as gingivetomy – which involves extracting only excess gum tissue without touching natural tooth enamel – with either lasers, scalpels, or scalpel blades to cut away small portions of gum tissue using lasers or scalpels. It may be done alongside other treatments like braces or aligners to reposition jaws for more aesthetically pleasing jaw lines.
If the source of your gummy smile is misalignment in the jaw, orthognathic surgery could be recommended by your dentist to correct and balance out both jaws to create a more attractive, balanced smile.
4. Talk to Your Dentist
When it comes to creating an attractive smile, the ratio between teeth and gums is key. Luckily, there are various treatments available to correct smiles with too much gum tissue; some require surgery while others don’t – talk to your dentist to figure out which options might be the most suitable choice.
People may experience excess gum tissue for various reasons. These could include having short upper lips which expose more gum tissue; misalignments of teeth or jaws which lead to excessive gum tissue; abnormal tooth eruption which creates uneven gum lines; or just having too many gum tissues altogether.
Your dentist is likely to perform a procedure known as gingivectomy to reshape gum tissue, increasing exposure of crown of teeth. This will make them appear longer while also decreasing appearance of gummy smiles. They may also suggest taking anti-wrinkle injections in and around the upper lip area to make it less flabby – another effective way of decreasing appearance of gummy smiles.
If the cause is short upper lips or bite issues, your dentist may use braces or clear aligners to correct them. This will move teeth and jaw into their proper places so that the amount of gum tissue matches your smile’s proportions.
If the cause of your gummy smile is caused by teeth that are too small and have emerged too low in your gums, cosmetic dental treatments such as veneers or crowns could provide the solution. Reshaping teeth to be larger will help balance out proportion of smile, creating more appealingness. In more extreme cases, an oral surgeon may perform orthognathic surgery, moving jaw into its proper positions using plates and screws.
