Chacón MH, Castro GY, Pérez PS, Cervantes KV, González CHR

Language: Spanish
References: 15
Page: 10-15
PDF size: 401.65 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Background: A smile is one of the most common expressions of satisfaction, joy or happiness. There are people who when they smile they show their gums above the base of their teeth, which causes a very un-aesthetic aspect. This situation has negative repercussions upon the individuals because it alters the spontaneity of the facial expression. There are dental, skeletal and soft tissue factors which intervene in the etiology of the gummy smile.
Objective: Proposing an innovating surgical variant with the purpose of correcting the gummy smile in patients with soft tissue alterations.
Material and methods: 15 female patients, between 17 and 38 years of age were surgically treated. In 12 of them, apart from the gummy smile correction, a rhinoplasty was done. The other 3 were only subjected to correction of the gummy smile.
Results: The 15 patients treated expressed satisfaction upon seeing the positive results in their appearance and self-esteem. There were no complications or problems related to the surgical scar. The results have been permanent in the median and long run. The patients smiles are normal, their appearance and their facial expression are better and function and muscular sensitivity were preserved.
Conclusions: The proposed technique is simple and easy to reproduce. Estimated surgical time is about an hour and it is an outpatient procedure. It is usually well tolerated by the patients because it does not have an effect on their daily activities.

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