title: Lip repositioning surgery for correction of excessive gingival display.
abstract: Esthetic demands have considerably increased over the years in routine clinical practice. A pleasant smile can give supreme confidence to an individuals personality. However, a perfect smile is dictated by a perfect balance of the white (teeth) and pink (gingival) display. This balance can be managed different treatment modalities, which is based on proper diagnosis. This case report demonstrates a successful management of gummy smile with a lip-repositioning procedure in a patient with an incompetent upper lip. This was accomplished by removing a partial thickness strip of mucosa from the maxillary buccal vestibule and suturing the lip mucosa to the mucogingival line. This resulted in a narrower vestibule and restricted muscle pull, thereby resulting incompetent lips and reduced gingival display during smiling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Private Practice, Beyond Smiles Dental Care, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Santhanakrishnan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muthukumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Shanmuganathan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Natarajan
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Seenivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madhankumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics, Ragas Dental College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Jayakrishnakumar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sampathkumar
keywords: Gingival display; gummy smile; lip repositioning