Bid adieu to gummy smiles

People whose smiles reveal excessive gum lines can now bid adieu to the problem, thanks to a new way of surgically correcting the gummy smiles. In a study, 10 female patients with excessive gum exposure were operated on between February and August 2008.

The patients were filmed with a high-definition camera before the surgery and 6 months after. They were asked to perform their fullest smile and the maximum gum exposures were measured.

The researchers observed that all patients experienced an aesthetic improvement in their smile with a reduction in gum exposure ranging from 1.59 mm to 4.83 mm.

The procedure is done under local anaesthesia and involves plastic surgeons making a series of incisions in the muscle that elevates the upper lip and lengthening the small piece of skin that connects the upper lip to the gums on the inside of the mouth. The study was presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Plastic Surgery 2009 conference, in Seattle.