Gummy smile treatment using botulinum toxin

Abstract

The smile is the most beautiful of facial expressions and is directly related to well-being, happiness, pleasure, among others. The aesthetic smile is one that presents a harmonic correlation between teeth, gums and lips. When the individual has more than 2 mm of gingival exposure during the smile, this is called a gummy smile. Possible causes are gingival hyperplasia, dento-alveolar extrusion, vertical excessive growth of the maxilla, short lip and hyperactivity of the upper lip. Some treatment options are: myectomy, lip repositioning, orthognathic surgery and the use of botulinum toxin. Thus, this article reports a clinical case of a female patient, 54 years old, with 4 mm gingival exposure, who underwent treatment with botulinum toxin type A because it is a less invasive, fast, conservative therapeutic option, with a low rate of complications and well tolerated. The result was a harmonic and more aesthetically pleasing smile. The most relevant disadvantage is the maintenance of the result for a short period of time, that is, it is not a definitive procedure.