Prevalence of Gummy Smiles in Leptoprosopic Patients and Various Treatment Modalities Employed in South Indian Population

Abstract

Patients with a vertical growth pattern have a tendency for a long face and gummy smile due to the clockwise rotation of the mandible and ensuing divergence of maxillary bases. A patient can be said to have a gummy smile when there is gingival exposure of 3mm or more while smiling. A gummy smile is unaesthetic and warrants correction. The common treatment modalities employed for correction are dental intrusion and surgery. The study aimed to determine the number of patients with leptoprosopic facial patterns having gummy smiles and the various treatments for its correction. The objective of this study was to determine whether all leptoprosopic patients have a tendency towards gummy smiles and the treatment plan most commonly used for its correction. Records from the Department of Orthodontics were retrieved and searched for the patients with leptoprosopic facial type. Only 42 patient records were eligible according to the selection criteria of which (n=22) were females and (n= 20) were males. Selection criteria included patients who had a long face with facial index between 90-94%, on cephalometric evaluation female patients with upper dental facial height >27.4+/-1.7 mm and male patients >30.5+/-2.1. The results showed that the patients with leptoprosopic facial patterns had a tendency towards gummy smiles and the treatment plan most commonly used for its correction in the Department of Orthodontics in Saveetha dental college was skeletal intrusion using dental mini implants and IZC. Other treatment modalities included Le-Fort Superior Impaction of maxilla in severe cases. Association between gender the various treatments employed for gummy smile correction was statistically insignificant (p>0.05). We can conclude that gummy smile and facial patterns have a positive correlation.