Tired of a Gummy Smile? What Botox® Can Do for You

There’s a lot that can be said with just a smile — a broad, inviting smile welcomes people in and exudes warmth and confidence. Yet you’re not flashing your smile as much as you want thanks to a gummy smile — instead of flashing just your pearly whites, you’re also flashing a lot of gum tissue.

Gummy smiles are quite common — they affect about 14% of women and 7% of men. The good news is that they can also be treated, often quite easily.

To explain this further, we turn to the experienced team at Dutch Hollow Medical Day Spa, who specialize in cosmetic improvements from head to toe. Here, we look at what constitutes a gummy smile and how a few Botox® injections can make all the difference.

Behind that gummy smile

Defining what constitutes a gummy smile is tricky, since it can be highly subjective, but there are some rules of thumb. Also called excessive gingival display, when 2-3 millimeters or more of your gums appear when you smile, this is called a gummy smile.

Again, these numbers are just guidelines, and you might find your smile too gummy with less gingival display.

When it comes to what causes a gummy display, it generally boils down to three things:

1. Your upper teeth move down, or there’s excessive growth in your upper jaw
2. Your teeth didn’t erupt properly when you were a child
3. The muscles that lift your top lift are tight or overactive

In some cases, it might be a combination of these, or it might simply be a genetic characteristic.

Tackling a gummy smile with Botox

Botox is a neurotoxin that can make quick work of wrinkles by relaxing the muscles that contract to form them. Well, we use this same effect to treat a gummy smile.

Since Botox targets muscle activity, we use the neurotoxin in the muscles that control your upper lip, including the levator labii superioris and levator anguli oris, which pull your lip upward.

When we inject Botox into these small muscles, they relax their hold on your upper lip, causing the lip to remain in a position that hides your top gums better.

What to expect during your Botox treatment for a gummy smile

A great benefit of using Botox to address your gummy smile is that treatment is quick and easy. If you give us just a few minutes, we can strategically inject the Botox around your upper lip, and then you’re free to get on with your day.

There’s no downtime after your Botox injections, but you might feel some soreness around the injection sites, and some mild bruising can develop. These side effects are usually short-lived.

In the meantime, the Botox goes to work, and within 7-10 days, the muscles in your lip should fully relax, improving your gummy smile. And these great results should last for at least 4 months.

When the Botox starts to wear off, all you need to do is return for another quick-and-easy round of injections, making it a simple step in your beauty regimen.

If you’d like to flash that beautiful smile of yours with more confidence, we invite you to contact us at our med spa in Godfrey, Illinois, today to schedule your Botox appointment.