Assessed jointly by a periodontist & an orthodontist
If your teeth look short and your gums take over when you smile, a gummy smile is correctable — and at Arasu Dental Care the first thing we do is find out why you have one, because the cause decides the treatment. For most people the fix is a single-visit laser gum reshaping that exposes more of the natural tooth. For others it is orthodontics or a lip procedure. We diagnose before we treat, so you are not sold a gum surgery you did not need.
A smile is usually called “gummy” when more than about 3–4 mm of gum shows above the upper teeth. It is common and cosmetic, not a disease — but because it can come from the gums, the teeth, the jaw, or the lip, an honest assessment is what separates a result that lasts from one that disappoints. Our periodontist and orthodontist assess gummy smiles together at both our R.S. Puram and Saibaba Colony branches.
Not sure whether it's your gums, your bite, or your lip? A short consultation gives you a clear answer and a plan. Call R.S. Puram +91 88380 22157 or Saibaba Colony +91 74491 88777.
Medically reviewed by the Arasu Dental Care clinical team · Last reviewed July 2026
Cause decides the treatment
This is the question that matters most, because two people with the same amount of gum showing can need completely different treatments. A gummy smile comes from one of four things — and often a combination:
Most common

In many people the gum simply sits too low on the tooth, covering enamel that should be visible — a pattern dentists call altered passive eruption. The teeth are a normal size; they just look short. It is the single most common cause of excessive gum display in clinical studies.
What that means for you: this group responds most reliably to gum reshaping — usually one visit.
Skeletal, not cosmetic

If the upper jaw has grown a little too far down, the whole gum line drops with it. This is skeletal — trimming gum will not fix it.
What that means for you: corrected with orthodontics, and in pronounced cases with jaw surgery.
The lip is the driver

A short or hyperactive upper lip that lifts too far when you smile exposes gum that would otherwise stay hidden. The gums and teeth are fine.
What that means for you: treated by managing the lip, not the gum.
Tooth & bite-driven

Front teeth that have over-erupted or a deep bite can push the gum line down and make the smile look gummy.
What that means for you: the answer is orthodontic — moving the teeth back to their proper position.
In clinical reviews, the gum-and-tooth causes (altered passive eruption and over-eruption) together account for the majority of gummy smiles, which is why laser gum contouring resolves so many cases in a single visit. But a meaningful share are skeletal or lip-driven — and those are exactly the cases that go wrong when a clinic reaches for the laser without checking. That is the difference our combined periodontist and orthodontist assessment is built to catch.
Matching cause to treatment
Almost every gummy smile is treatable; the treatment just depends on the cause. Here is how we match the two at your consultation:
| If the cause is… | The treatment is… | What that involves |
|---|---|---|
| Gum sitting too low (altered passive eruption) | Laser gum contouring | One visit; the gum line is reshaped to expose more tooth. The most common route. |
| Gum + a little underlying bone | Gum contouring with minor bone recontouring | One visit under local anaesthetic; slightly longer healing. |
| Over-erupted or protruding front teeth / deep bite | Orthodontics (braces or aligners) | Months, not one visit — the teeth are moved to lift the gum line naturally. |
| Upper jaw grown too far down (mild–moderate) | Orthodontics ± jaw growth guidance | Longer, specialist-led; corrects the skeletal cause, not just the gum. |
| Pronounced jaw excess | Orthodontics with corrective jaw surgery | The most involved route; reserved for true skeletal cases and planned jointly. |
| Short or hyperactive upper lip | Lip repositioning (managing lip movement) | A minor procedure that limits how far the lip rises. Referred/planned case-by-case. |
For the large group whose gummy smile is gum-driven, the workhorse treatment is gum contouring — our periodontist reshapes the gum line with a soft-tissue laser, usually in a single sitting, with minimal bleeding and a quick recovery. If you are also planning veneers or a smile makeover, we often contour the gums first so the restorations sit in an even frame.
The only way to know which of these applies to you is an exam.A gummy-smile consultation at Arasu Dental Care tells you the cause and the exact treatment before you commit to anything — R.S. Puram +91 88380 22157 · Saibaba Colony +91 74491 88777.
Book a consultationReal cases
A few gummy-smile corrections carried out at Arasu Dental Care. Every smile is different — these show the kind of change treatment can make, not a promise of your result.
Results vary from person to person depending on the cause of your gummy smile and your gum, bone and tooth proportions. Photographs are of real Arasu Dental Care patients, shared with consent, and are not a guarantee of individual outcome.
The procedure
For the most common, gum-driven cases, the visit is short. Your periodontist numbs the area with local anaesthetic, marks the ideal gum line, and reshapes the tissue with a soft-tissue laser. Because the laser seals as it works, there is little bleeding and stitches are usually not needed. Most people are back to normal the same day, with mild tenderness for a few days as the gums settle into their new contour. The reshaped result is stable — the gum does not “grow back” over the tooth in healthy patients.
For orthodontic or jaw-driven cases the timeline is different — alignment takes months, not a single visit — but the trade-off is that it corrects the actual cause rather than masking it. We walk you through the realistic timeline for your specific case at the consultation, so there are no surprises. Deeper procedure detail lives on the gum contouring treatment page and on our orthodontic treatment page.
For gum-driven cases — the majority — laser gum reshaping is completed in a single sitting, with the gums settling over one to two weeks. Tooth- and jaw-driven cases run over months with orthodontics, because the cause itself is being corrected.
Before you decide
A gummy smile is a cosmetic concern, not a health emergency — so the honest starting point is that you are choosing this for confidence, and it is entirely reasonable to. A few things we make sure you know first:
Transparent pricing
Because the treatment depends on the cause, the cost does too — a single-visit gum reshaping and a multi-month orthodontic correction are very different investments. The ranges below are indicative starting points for Coimbatore; your exact figure is confirmed after the exam.
| Treatment | Indicative cost (Coimbatore) | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation & diagnosis | ₹300 – ₹500 | First step for every case |
| Laser gum contouring — single tooth / small area | ₹[TO BE VERIFIED] | Gum-driven gummy smile, limited area |
| Laser gum contouring — full smile zone | ₹[TO BE VERIFIED] | Gum-driven, across the visible smile |
| Orthodontics — metal braces | ₹30,000 – ₹50,000 | Tooth / bite-driven gummy smile |
| Orthodontics — ceramic braces | ₹35,000 – ₹70,000 | Tooth-driven, less visible option |
| Orthodontics — clear aligners | ₹40,000 – ₹3,00,000 | Tooth-driven, by case complexity |
| Jaw-surgery-assisted correction | ₹[TO BE VERIFIED] | Pronounced skeletal cases only |
What the price depends on: the cause of your gummy smile, how much of the smile is being treated, whether bone recontouring or orthodontics is involved, and the diagnostics needed (a scan may be required for skeletal cases). We give you a written estimate after the exam, and we offer EMI and no-cost EMI options on the larger orthodontic cases. No hidden add-ons.
Who treats you
Periodontist · Associate Fellowship in Laser Dentistry, WCLI (USA)
Performs the laser gum reshaping for gum-driven gummy smiles — and checks your gum and bone health first, so contouring is only done on tissue that will hold the result. View profile
Founder · Orthodontics & Dentofacial Orthopaedics · FWFO (USA)
Named Dentist of the Year – South Region at the 2023 Economic Times Healthcare Awards. Leads the orthodontic side where the cause is the bite or the jaw — so a skeletal gummy smile is never treated as a gum problem. View profile
Why Arasu
The reason gummy-smile results go wrong elsewhere is almost always a missed diagnosis — a laser used on a jaw problem, or gum surgery done on inflamed tissue. We are set up specifically to avoid that. Having both specialists under one roof is what lets us tell you honestly which route is yours.
Your gummy smile is assessed by both a periodontist and an orthodontist, so the cause is identified correctly before a treatment is chosen.
Laser gum reshaping is carried out by our periodontist — who holds an Associate Fellowship in Laser Dentistry from the World Clinical Laser Institute (WCLI), USA.
Gum-driven cases get contouring; bite- and jaw-driven cases get orthodontics. You're offered the route your case needs — not the one that's quickest to sell.
Both branches open all seven days, 10 AM to 8:30 PM. Written estimate before treatment, EMI on larger cases. R.S. Puram (+91 88380 22157) · Saibaba Colony (+91 74491 88777).
FAQs
For the common gum-reshaping route, the area is fully numbed with local anaesthetic, so you don't feel the procedure itself, and the soft-tissue laser causes little bleeding. Afterwards you can expect mild tenderness for a few days, managed with ordinary pain relief. Orthodontic correction has no surgical discomfort at all — just the usual adjustment ache after braces are tightened.
In a healthy mouth, no — reshaped gum stays where it's placed. The exception is if the gum overgrowth was driven by a medication or by gum inflammation; in those cases we address the underlying cause first, otherwise tissue can return. That's part of why the diagnosis step matters.
Often, yes. If the cause is your teeth or bite, orthodontics with braces or aligners corrects a gummy smile without any gum surgery at all. Laser gum contouring is a very minor soft-tissue procedure rather than open surgery. Only pronounced skeletal cases need jaw surgery — and those are the minority.
Gum-driven cases are typically corrected in a single visit, with the gums settling over one to two weeks. Tooth- or jaw-driven cases are corrected with orthodontics and take several months, because the teeth are being moved into a better position. We give you a realistic timeline for your specific cause at the consultation.
It depends entirely on the cause. A single-visit laser gum reshaping is the most affordable route; orthodontic correction (braces from around ₹30,000, aligners higher by complexity) costs more because it runs over months. We confirm your exact figure in writing after the exam and offer EMI on the larger cases.
Health-wise, usually not — a gummy smile is cosmetic, and there's no medical need to treat it. People choose to correct it for confidence, which is a perfectly good reason. The one thing worth checking is that the gum tissue itself is healthy, which we confirm at the consultation.
Medical disclaimer: This page is general information, not a diagnosis. Suitability, treatment time and results vary from person to person depending on the cause of your gummy smile. Book a consultation with our specialists for a personalised assessment.
Arasu Dental Care — open all 7 days, 10:00 AM – 8:30 PM
We'll diagnose whether your gummy smile comes from the gums, the teeth, the jaw or the lip — and give you a clear, honest plan and estimate before any treatment begins. WhatsApp +91 96007 56297 · arasudentalcare@gmail.com.
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