Everything you Need to Know About Botox for Gummy Smile

There are dozens of causes of gummy smiles and dozens of treatments. We cannot even say that a gummy smile is a condition that should be treated as it does not affect the quality of a person’s life, but many regard it as aesthetic imperfection and want to get rid of it.

Fortunately, modern medicine, cosmetology, and plastic surgery can fix even more serious appearance flaws. One of the most innovative and minimally-invasive methods to fix the smile is Botox injections, you can buy botox at our website. In this article, we will discuss the effectiveness, duration, safety, contraindications of botulinum toxin injection to fix a gummy smile as well as have a brief look at other alternatives.

Methods to Correct Gummy Smile

A gummy smile is when smiling, the upper lip rises high, and there is a visible part of gums between the lips and teeth. There are 3 basic ways to eliminate the excessive gingival display:

• dental (or periodontal plastic surgery)
• cosmetic (gummy smile Botox or dermal fillers injections)
• speech therapy methods
• combined methods

Dentistry offers one solution for those who want to get rid of a gummy smile once and forever – crown lengthening gingivectomy surgery or orthognathic surgery. A vertical maxillary excess of the gum when smiling can be corrected with surgical intervention by cutting the gums and increasing the surface of the teeth.

This is a complicated, expensive, but effective and long-lasting method to fix a gummy smile. You should also understand that the process is not reversible. If you didn’t like the result, there is nothing to do about it. Moreover, there are certain surgical risks, for example, healing of the gums and the formation of a new gum contour may not proceed as planned by the surgeon, and so on.

There are also little-known methods for correcting a gummy smile with the help of a speech therapist-psychologist. Lips, lip mobility, muscle tone surrounding the mouth, and much more – all this applies to the human speech apparatus. A speech therapist teaches the patient to control the position of the upper lip and stop it when moving up in the desired position. A speech therapist is needed only at the initial stages of this type of gingival smile correction. In the future, it all comes down to self-control. But the success of the training depends on many physiological peculiarities. It may be helpful if gum tissue appears not a lot.

How Can Botox Treatment Improve Gummy Smile?

A great alternative to expensive and unpredictable surgical procedures and long l(and not always effective) lessons with speech therapists is cosmetic injections of Botox for a gummy smile. A well-known preparation from Allergan based on pure botulinum toxin type A used to treat blepharospasm, limp spasticity, cerebral palsy, overactive bladder, hyperhidrosis, and chronic migraines can help you decrease the gingival exposure when smiling. How?

In the same way, it deals with all the above-mentioned cases. Botox injection influences directly the nerve ending, relaxing the muscles, decreasing the tension in the tissue, and lowering in such a way the upper lip. So, when you talk, smile, or laugh, you are physically not able to raise your lip that high and expose more gum tissue.

The treatment with Botox can provide an amazing aesthetic improvement and also naturally increase the volume of the upper lip. Now, this procedure, which is called Botox lip flip, also gains extreme popularity among the lowers of natural-looking results.

Benefits of Gummy Smile Botox Correction Compared to Other Methods

Treatment of a gummy smile is the most simple and effective method to fix the excess gum display.

• Fast results. A gummy smile can be fast and easily corrected compared to other surgical procedures. The procedure with the injection takes around 30 minutes and a few days for the effect of botulinum toxin to fully appear and relax the upper lip. It will take months to wait for the result of orthognathic surgery.
• Safety. Many get scared when hearing about the administration of a toxin. In fact, the Botox treatment option and botulinum used in its formulation are one of the most well-studied substances in the world with thousands of successful procedures annually. Moreover, unlike surgical options, the results of Botox are more predictable.
• Affordable price. To decrease the gingival exposure area via surgical method will cost a few thousand American dollars, not to mention additional costs for medicines, painkillers, and additional recovery oral health procedures.
• Reversible result. Appearance is a very subjective thing. Sometimes, a person cannot accept himself/herself with a new look. With Botox, you should simply wait for 3-4 months, and everything will return to the initial condition.

Stages of Upper Lip Lift with Botox

We can divide the treatment of gummy smile with Botox into 3 stages: preparation, injection, and recovery.

Preparation. Any procedure will begin with a consultation, discussion of the injection, risks, side effects, desired result. The doctor will also inform the patient about how to prepare for the injection:

• refuse from smoking and drinking alcohol 3 days before the treatment
• do not take blood-thinning medications
• do not use rough mechanical peeling, upper lip epilation
• do not eat spicy and salty food
• do not drink too much water

Injection. It all starts with a visual examination and anamnesis. As soon as the doctor is convinced that there are no contraindications, you can start the procedure. It lasts no more than 50 minutes. If anesthesia is not used, then it will take much less time.

Correction of Gummy Smile with Botox takes place in several stages:

• The markings to inject botulinum toxin. To accurately determine the lines, the specialist asks the patient to smile several times and make a few more mimic efforts.
• Disinfection of the surface with a special compound to avoid infection at the injection sites.
• Injection of botulinum toxin at specified points and massage of the injection site for better distribution of the substance.

Then the specialist monitors the patient’s condition for some time, advises on further actions during the rehabilitation period. If the dynamics are positive, all further actions take place without the participation of a doctor. The patient can go home.

Rehabilitation. There is practically no recovery period after smile correction. The first changes are visible immediately after the session. The final result will appear after 2 weeks. At this time, you must adhere to simple rules to avoid side effects:

• the first 3-4 hours after the injection – only a horizontal position, you can not bend over, touch the injection site;
• stop drinking alcohol, tobacco for 10 days;
• For 7 days, you can not take analgesics, antibiotics, blood thinners;
• a month after the injection, you can not go to the sauna, swimming pool, solarium, gym, sunbathe.

Contraindications to Gummy Smile Treatment with Botox

As in the case with many medications and procedures, Botox administration into the upper gums has a list of contraindications when it is better to delay or cancel the procedure for the safety of the patient. Thus, the injections of Botox are prohibited in the above-mentioned cases:

• oncological diseases
• endocrine disorders
• pregnancy, lactation period
• long-term use of antibiotics
• blood clotting disorder
• muscle atrophy
• unhealed facial injuries
• chronic diseases of the excretory system
• individual intolerance to the drug
• herpetic skin lesions

How Long Will the Effect after Botulinum Toxin Injections for Gummy Smile Last?

Irrespectively of the number of Botox units injected into the muscle, it always has a temporary effect. The toxin impacts the nerve fibers, and our organism has got a wonderful capability of self-restoration. In such a way, it restores the nerve tissues, build new nerve endings, and the muscle renew their ability to contact.

As a rule, this process takes around 4-6 months, depending on the individual peculiarities of the organism. So, the follow-up appointment with the doctor will not be scheduled sooner than in 3-4 months after the 1st injection.

What Does the Rehabilitation After Botox Injections Look Like?

The great news about the Botox fix for a gummy smile is that actually, there is no downtime. It means that the patient does not even have to stay in the hospital after the procedure is done. It is advisable to take care and limit your activity for some time but you can live your ordinary life with a few exceptions like not going to sauna/spa/gym/pool, refusing from intense exercising, sunbathing, taking hot bath or shower, and other heating procedures.

You may be interested in the article Where to Inject Botox for Lip Flip? This information will help you with your first injections.

The Bottom Line

Botox for gummy smile is a fundamentally new approach in solving this aesthetic problem. Of course, when choosing the most effective method, you should consult with a dentist and aesthetic specialist, consider all pros and cons, and just then make a decision. At least now you know that dental surgery is not the only way possible, and you have got other varients to improve your appearance.

Hopefully, this article was useful and interesting. FillerSupplies team wishes you everything the best and see you in the next posts!