Your teeth, lips jaws and gums are the key components that dictate the perception of your smile. Since a gummy smile is not considered a medical condition, several factors can cause it, and they can vary for each individual.
Teeth Conditions Causing a Gummy Smile:
One of the most common gummy smile causes is the difference in the growth of your teeth. When your gums cover a large portion of your teeth’s surface when you smile, it is called altered passive eruption. On the other hand, there may be cases when the teeth in the front of your mouth have grown in too far, causing a condition called dentoalveolar extrusion. Another condition called vertical maxillary excess, which is when the bones of your upper jaw have grown longer than their typical length, may be another common cause of a gummy smile.
Lips Shape & Gummy Smile:
Several people experience a gummy smile when their upper lip is too short to cover the gums. Furthermore, even if your lip is normal in length when your face is resting, it may still lift too high when smiling, exposing a lot of your gum tissue.
Another common cause of a gummy smile is hypermobile lips, which is when they mode dramatically when you smile, hence exposing your gumline.