Orthodontic treatment of gummy smile by maxillary total intrusion with a midpalatal absolute anchorage system

Abstract

This article describes the orthodontic treatment of a 31-year-old Korean female patient with gummy smile and crowding. The patient showed excessive gingival display in both the anterior and posterior areas and a large difference in gingival heights between the anterior and posterior teeth in the maxilla. To correct the gummy smile, we elected to intrude the entire maxillary dentition instead of focusing only on the maxillary anterior teeth. Alignment and leveling were performed, and a midpalatal absolute anchorage system as well as a modified lingual arch was designed to achieve posterosuperior movement of the entire upper dentition. The active treatment period was 18 months. The gummy smile and crowding were corrected, and the results were stable at 21 months post-treatment.