Ideally speaking we should only show about 1 – 2 mm of gum when we smile.  The spaces between the teeth should be filled with sharp pointed triangle of gum called the papillae. The loss of these papillae leads to an unsightly dark triangle which is very unattractive. The replacement of these papillae is extremely difficult and not possible in a lot of cases.

There are however other techniques at our disposal that can reduce of eliminate this problem.  There are a number of procedures that can be done to get the gums into line. Gums can be trimmed back if there is excess or can be brought down with soft tissue grafting.