LipStaT® Surgery, A Novel Technique for the Treatment of Gummy Smile: Case Report

Abstract

Introduction: The lip stabilization technique (LipStaT®) is a novel surgical approach for the management of gummy smile. It is an outpatient technique, minimally invasive, with low risk of morbidity and low incidence of complications. The goal of the technique is to reduce the excessive gingival display during smile. Objective: to describe the LipStaT® technique including its indications, preoperative evaluation, surgical approach and patient post procedure care instructions. Clinical Cases: the authors present two female patients, aged 20 and 31 years, with excessive gingival display (over 3mm) and with experiences of failures with other procedures. The LipStaT® technique allowed to achieve aesthetic, harmonic and functional results. Conclusion: The LipStaT® technique is a safe outpatient procedure that allows to obtain predictable results, which are well accepted by patients.

Alternative management of patients with gummy smile due to maxillary growth: Clinical case

“…Authors such as Bhola and Rosenblantt mention satisfactory results, in most cases when the patient exceeds 8mm of exposure, only being contraindicated when patients have a thin band of keratinized gingiva. The results at terms of 6 months to 4 years have presented good stability of the treatment [10,11,13] .…”

“…The lip stabilization technique or LipStaT® is performed by limiting the retractions of the smile muscles, such as zygomaticus, orbicularis labia, elevator of the angle or elevation of the lip. This technique it is a minimally invasive and novel procedure that seeks to improve the appearance of the smile by repositioning the upper lip and decreasing the amount of gum showed during dynamic smile [10] . In this clinical case, it was detected that the main problem of the patient lies in the excessive maxillary growth, for which the ideal treatment of the patient lies in orthognathic surgery, however, he does not agree to this, for which the question arises of how be able to address these cases when our patients do not want the initial treatment plan?…”