Living with a smile that embarrasses you is likely to make you smile less and feel a lot more self-conscious when you are around other people. If you feel like this because you have a gummy smile, you can get this fixed by visiting a cosmetic dentist. If you are interested in this, you should talk to your dentist about a procedure known as gum reshaping.

What Is a Gummy Smile?

A lot of people have what dentists call a "gummy smile." This type of smile makes a person's gums more prominent than they should be. In other words, when the person smiles, you see very little of the person's teeth. Instead, you see mostly gums. This is a common problem among people of all ages, and it can be embarrassing to some people. Fortunately, this problem can easily be corrected through gum reshaping.

What Is Gum Reshaping?

Gum reshaping is a procedure that dentists use to transform a gummy smile into a smile a person is proud of. After it is completed, you will see less gums and more teeth. To achieve this, a dentist will need to remove some of the gums so that the teeth are more exposed. Gummy smiles typically occur because the gums grow over the teeth too far. By removing some of the gums, more of the teeth will be exposed, and this will eliminate the gummy smile look.

Many dentists perform this procedure with a laser, and this is the best way to have this done. Work done with a laser is less painful and has a lower risk of infection forming afterwards. Dentists are also able to be more precise when using a laser to complete dental work. You may need anesthesia during this, even if the dentist uses a laser, but it is not overly painful in most cases.

Will You Need Other Services?

After you complete this service, you may need to get your teeth whitened, simply because the parts of the teeth that were covered may be a different shade of white than the parts of your teeth that were exposed. You will not know if you will need this until after the dentist completes the gum reshaping procedure.

If you have a gummy smile or any type of smile that you do not like, you should visit a cosmetic dentist. Cosmetic dentists offer a variety of services that are all designed to improve the looks of a smile.