A newer approach in treating gummy smile- botulinum toxin: A review.

Abstract

Esthetics being a pillar of prosthodontics, it mandates the clinician to achieve a harmonious relationship of form and function along with esthetics of the patient. Excessive gingival display or the so called ‘gummy smile’ is frequently observed problem in day–to-day practice with patient willing to undergo a treatment that is less invasive yielding prompt results. One such method is the injection of botulinum toxin that can be used both as the sole treatment option and serves as an adjunct too. There are multiple studies done in the field of cosmetology showing the success of treatment with botulinum toxin. This article provides the details of mechanism of action of botulinum toxin, formulation of botulinum toxin and injection sites for treating excessive gingival display in a simple way so as to provide with a basic knowledge of the treatment procedure. Articles were searched through MEDLINE database and Google Scholar search engine. The keywords ‘gummy smile’, ‘excessive gingival display’, ‘botulinum toxin’, ‘botox’,‘botox in dentistry’, ‘botox in gummy smile’ and  ‘botulinum toxin in gummy smile’ were searched.