The Maltepe Dental Clinic Story
The Gummy Smile: What Excessive Gingival Display Actually Is, and What Can Be Done A gummy smile is defined as more than 2 mm of gum tissue showing above the upper front teeth at a full smile, a threshold credited to Peck and Peck (1995) and still the most commonly used limit in smile esthetics research. The clinical term is excessive gingival display. It is classified as a nonpathological anatomical variation, not a disease. This episode covers the clinical definition, prevalence, the five underlying causes, and the four evidence-based treatment categories, with particular attention to how those treatments compare over twelve months rather than at the one-month mark. Topics covered: 1. Why gummy smile searches spiked, and why a still frame is not diagnostic 2. The 2 mm definition and the term excessive gingival display 3. Prevalence: roughly 10 percent of a 454-person young adult sample showed a high smile line (Tjan et al., 1984), more often in women 4. Five causes: hyperactive upper lip, short upper lip, altered passive eruption, vertical maxillary excess, dentoalveolar extrusion 5. Four treatments: esthetic crown lengthening, lip repositioning surgery, botulinum toxin, orthodontic intrusion 6. Durability data from Maleki et al. (2024): comparable reduction at one month, but nonsurgical results returning to baseline by twelve months 7. Digital Smile Design as a pre-treatment preview 8. Listener questions on health risk, veneers, genetics and periodontal surgery Full article: https://www.maltepedentalclinic.com/blog/charlie-kirk-smile/ [https://www.maltepedentalclinic.com/blog/charlie-kirk-smile/] Website: https://www.maltepedentalclinic.com/ [https://www.maltepedentalclinic.com/] Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@podcastsofmaltepedental [https://www.youtube.com/@podcastsofmaltepedental] Contact: smile@maltepedentalclinic.com [smile@maltepedentalclinic.com] Educational content only. Not medical advice.
17 episodes
Comments
0Be the first to comment
Sign up now and become a member of the The Maltepe Dental Clinic Story community!