Botox for Gummy Smile Dallas

The treatment involves softening the levator alaeque nasi muscle (LAN) so that there is less pull upward during smile. This same muscle can also soften the depth of the smile line (but not always) as a side benefit. In most cases, this works very well and you should see an improvement within a short time after the treatment, perhaps 1 to 2 weeks after the injection if not sooner.

Dr. Lam’s method is almost 100% painless through his method of finger vibration where most likely you will not even feel the needle and he is usually done in less than 10 seconds. Bruising is highly unlikely but always possible and should be minor in most cases. In short, there should really be no pain and no downtime in most cases.

There is no easy alternative to this therapy since cutting the muscle would cause too significant a dysfunction. This simple treatment is the gold standard to improve a gummy smile.

As mentioned in the introductory section of this page, unfortunately, the first treatment does not usually last a long time but may already start to fade as early as 6 weeks after treatment. Nevertheless, repeated treatments usually will last longer and longer over time. Oftentimes you will need to be treated every 2 months for 2 to 3 rounds before expanding to 3 months, and then progressively longer. The longest time that Dr. Lam sees results is between 4 to 6 months. The key is not to wait until the result fully returns back to baseline in order to try to attain longer and longer periods of time. If the result returns fully back to normal, you may need to start over with the same sequence as above. That being said, if the muscle is already weaker due to repeated treatments, it may be easier to restart the treatment with a faster ramp-up time.

Rarely. It almost always works, but in rare cases, Dr. Lam must truly increase the dose and use an alternative method that requires injecting part of the orbicularis oris muscle lower down and to do more sequences of every 2 months in order to make the result improved and last longer. This really only occurs in less than 2% of patients.

In very rare cases the smile could be crooked but that is extremely unlikely. In this rare case, that could last 1-2 months if not slightly longer. In any case, there is no long-term risk whatsoever with this treatment.