What You Need To Know About Treating Gummy Smile With Botox

When you smile, does your upper lip tend to pull up higher than it ought to? Do you see just as much (if not more) gum tissue than you do your natural teeth? If so, we offer a non-invasive gummy smile treatment that can help you address excessive gingival display in your upper gums. Instead of considering surgical procedures, Botox lip treatment is one of the safest and easiest ways to address the issue at hand.

 Having a gummy smile isn’t always related to excess gum tissue around your teeth. In many cases, it’s simply a matter of overactive upper lip muscles. Since Botox treatment helps freeze your upper lip muscles, it effectively corrects your gummy smile at its source. 

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Feeling Self Conscious Even with Beautiful Teeth

You may have invested money and time into achieving perfect oral health. Perhaps you’ve even had your teeth whitened, replaced missing teeth, or gotten porcelain veneers. But just like a beautiful painting, the frame also makes a difference. In this case, the frame around your smile is your gum tissue and lips. If you have too much gum showing, it can inadvertently make healthy teeth look smaller or atypically sized compared to the rest of your facial profile. This discrepancy can create a scenario where you feel self-conscious or even embarrassed to the point that you avoid smiling in public. Thankfully there are simple ways to fix a gummy smile for predictable, extended results. And when you feel great about how your teeth look, you’ll feel more inclined to smile or laugh around other people. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that correcting a gummy smile is as easy as it is until they’ve tried Botox.

When Your Lip Muscles Pull Too Far

All of us have different muscle tones and facial anatomy. That’s why each of our smiles is unique. In the case of a gummy smile, the root cause may be due to too much vertical muscle movement whenever you’re smiling or laughing. As those muscles contract, they naturally lift your lip line higher. Someone with overactive lip muscles will typically reveal not just their teeth but also the gum tissue above them. 

To correct this type of gummy smile, we have to address the overactive lip muscle rather than the shape of the gum tissue itself. That’s where a Botox injection comes in.

Why You Don’t Need Dental Treatment

Physically altering your teeth’ shape, color, and size can only go so far. When the tissues draped around them are set in an atypical manner, it can still detract from even the most beautiful teeth. No number of dental veneers, porcelain crowns, or whitening treatments will make a difference. Instead, we want to take a non-invasive approach to manage the vertical maxillary excessive gingival display. Fortunately, orthognathic surgery isn’t necessary, either. The best approach is to take a look at the muscles that are contracting in the lips. If we see that the muscles are overactive, we can use a botulinum toxin type of product, such as Botox, to naturally soften or “freeze” the muscles in place. Changing the way your teeth look isn’t necessary whatsoever. 

As dental experts, having Botox injected at our Los Angeles periodontal office is both safe as well as convenient. In many cases, our specialists, Dr. Aalam and Dr. Krivitsky can often predictably treat your hyperactive lip muscle using our minimally invasive procedures, such as non-surgical lip repositioning, lip enhancement, or aesthetic crown lengthening treatments.

How Botox Injections Can Help

Botox is a cosmetic product that many medical professionals use to manage fine lines and wrinkles or alongside dermal fillers for anti-aging purposes. In dentistry, we also sometimes use Botox to manage TMJ disorder symptoms and frequent migraines. But how does Botox fix a gummy smile? Botox units placed at specific locations along your lip muscles help “freeze” them in place. While your lip still retracts whenever you smile, the relaxed muscles cause your lip line to fall much lower than before. Your smile still appears natural, but the lip drapes over the gummy smile so that fewer tissues are visible, drawing the focus toward your teeth rather than your gums.

Adjust Your Smile Line, Boost Self Confidence

A gummy smile can draw unwanted attention to your teeth in a not-so-great way. Botox is a safe and straightforward solution. When placed by a dental expert like our Los Angeles gummy smile specialists, we can carefully adjust which muscles and parts of your lip line we want to drape your visible gums. Within a matter of a couple of weeks, you’ll begin to see the results of the Botox medication take effect. Results can last for several months at a time, and patients typically require fewer treatments over time with periodic touchups.

Treating a gummy smile with Botox is a perfect option for anyone who wants fast, long-lasting, natural-looking results. Whenever you’ve had Botox cosmetic medication injected, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing your smile will look its absolute best. Only then will you have the true confidence to show it off whenever and wherever you want!

A Non-Invasive Treatment Option

For gummy smile cases caused by a hyperactive upper lip, Botox is a safe, simple, and non-surgical treatment to correct this type of gummy smile. If you have concerns about excessive growth of your gingiva, short teeth, or a gummy smile, our Los Angeles dentists can apply Botox just under your upper lip to relax those muscles. 

Since this medication is safely injected into the lip muscles, we don’t have to worry about long recovery times or permanently altering the shape of your smile. Results last for several months, and we can touch up at a follow-up appointment whenever needed. 

Counteract the Look of Gummy Smiles

The Center for Advanced Periodontal & Implant Therapy offers Botox injections for treating everything from gummy smiles to fine lines and TMJ pain. Contact our Los Angeles office today to learn more about if Botox is right for you. 

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