Gummy Smile Botox Treatment
TL;DR
The honest answer on gummy smile Botox: it can quieten how much gum shows when you smile — but only when an over-active upper lip is what’s causing it, and only when whoever treats you is willing to turn you away if it isn’t.
- Who it suits: people whose gum show comes from an upper-lip muscle that lifts too far — not from the teeth, gums or jaw.
- Why it can go wrong: too high a dose or the wrong injection points can leave the lip sitting low or the smile uneven. That’s why a conservative dose and the right candidate matter more than anything else.
- How long it lasts: usually around three to six months, then it gradually wears off. It’s temporary, not permanent.
- The biggest safety factor: honestly, it’s who treats you — the right candidate, the right dose, precise placement.
Why It Sometimes Goes Wrong — and How That’s Avoided
Something I get asked constantly is whether this will leave them looking worse than they started. It’s a fair worry, so let me break down what I actually think.
When a gummy smile treatment goes wrong, it’s almost always one of three things: too much product, the wrong injection points, or — honestly — the wrong person being treated at all.
Get the dose or the placement wrong and the upper lip can sit too low, or pull to one side. The smile ends up looking lopsided, or a bit stiff, for a while.
So I treat this conservatively, on purpose. Think of it like seasoning food — you can always add a little more salt, but you can’t take it back out of the pot once it’s in.
That’s the whole approach, really. The wrong dose is hard to undo on the day, so I’d rather start light, see you back, and add only if we need to.
None of that is a clever secret technique. It’s choosing the right candidate, using a conservative dose, placing it precisely, and being straight with you when you’re not the right fit.
A good result here comes down to who’s holding the needle — not the brand on the bottle.
Is the effect permanent?
No — and that’s a good thing here, not a catch.
It wears off gradually. The muscle goes back to working the way it always did, and the gum show drifts back toward how it looked before.
For most people that’s somewhere around three to six months. It varies from person to person — that part I can’t put a fixed number on.
Meet Dr Majid Shah — a Careful, Honest Approach
I’m Dr Majid Shah. I’m a practitioner, and I’ve done over 4,500 treatments — including time working in Harley Street.
I’ll be honest about how I work: I’m deliberately conservative. I’d far rather under-treat and see you back than put in too much and watch you regret it.
And I’ll tell you when something isn’t for me to do. If your gum show isn’t muscular, Botox won’t help you — so I’d rather turn that down than take your money for the wrong treatment.
I think about how you’ll feel about this in a few years, not just on the day you leave. That’s the bar I’m aiming for.
Every treatment is assessed, prescribed and carried out by me — not handed off to someone else. Botox is a prescription-only medicine in the UK, so by law it has to follow a proper clinical assessment by a prescriber, and that’s exactly how it’s done here.
Is It the Right Fix for You?
Here’s where I’d be cautious about anyone who tells you Botox fixes every gummy smile. It doesn’t — and that’s probably the most useful thing on this whole page.
It works on one cause: an upper lip that lifts too far, pulled up by the muscles either side of your nose. Quieten that muscle a little and less gum shows. If that’s your cause, it can genuinely help — it’s one of the Botox treatments in Birmingham that I offer.
I’ll also be fair about why people like it. Next to surgery, it’s far less invasive, there’s very little downtime, and it’s a much smaller commitment. For the right person, that’s a real plus.
But if it’s not your cause, no dose is going to fix it — and I won’t pretend otherwise.
What causes a gummy smile?
A little gum on show when you smile is completely normal — it only becomes something people want to treat when it’s the first thing they notice in every photo. A gummy smile is usually when you show more than about 3mm of gum above your top teeth.
There’s more than one reason it happens, and the cause is what decides whether Botox can do anything at all. Studies suggest a gummy smile is fairly common — somewhere around 14% of women and 7% of men.
| Cause of the gum show | Can Botox help? |
|---|---|
| An over-active upper-lip muscle (the lip lifts too far) | Yes — this is the cause Botox is for |
| A naturally short upper lip | Not really — it’s structural, not muscular |
| Excess or low-sitting gum tissue | No — usually a dental route (e.g. gum or crown lengthening) |
| Tooth or jaw/bone development (sometimes called vertical maxillary excess) | No — usually orthodontics or surgery |
So it really is one cause Botox speaks to: the over-active muscle. That’s just how the muscle works — it has nothing to do with your teeth or your jaw.
When Botox isn’t the answer
If your gum show comes from your teeth, your gums or your jaw rather than the muscle, Botox won’t fix it. The honest answer is you’d be better looking elsewhere.
Depending on what’s going on, that might mean orthodontics, a gum or crown-lengthening procedure with a dentist, or in the more pronounced skeletal cases, surgery. I’ll point you the right way if that’s you — I’d rather do that than treat the wrong thing.
What the Treatment Involves
It starts with a free consultation — just you and me, before anything’s booked. We go through what’s actually causing your gum show, I check whether the muscle is really the issue, and we only go ahead if it’s right for you.
On the day, we cover a consent form for the risks and you fill in a short medical history. Once we’re both happy, the treatment itself is quick — usually about five minutes, with low discomfort and not much redness or swelling after.
How it works
There’s a muscle either side of your nose — the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, if you want the proper name — that pulls your top lip upward when you smile.
Botox relaxes it a little, so the lip doesn’t ride up as far, and less gum shows. The injections go into that muscle beside the nose, not into the lip itself — which is why this doesn’t change the size or shape of your lips. It’s a small, targeted nudge, not a heavy change.
It’s also why this isn’t the same as a couple of treatments people mix it up with. A lip flip uses Botox a different way again, and if it’s more lip volume you’re after, that’s lip filler — neither one is a gummy smile treatment on its own.
How many units will I need?
There isn’t a fixed number, and anyone who quotes you one before they’ve seen you is guessing.
It depends on how strong your lip muscles are and how much gum shows when you smile. It’s a small, precise dose, split between both sides, and I work it out with you at the consultation.
Because the dose is small, placement matters more than quantity — it’s the precision that gives a natural result. As I said, I’d rather start light and review you than overdo it on day one.
Results: how soon, how long
You won’t see it straight away — that catches some people out.
| When you’ll notice it | Usually within about ten days, settling over the couple of weeks after that |
|---|---|
| How long it lasts | Around three to six months (a typical range, not a promise), then it wears off and you’d come back for a repeat |
It varies person to person — I genuinely can’t tell you the exact figure in advance.
Side Effects and What to Watch For
It’s usually well tolerated, but no injection is risk-free, and you should know what’s normal and what isn’t.
| What you might notice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Routine — settles quickly | |
| Tenderness, redness, minor swelling or a small bruise at the injection sites | Normal to any injection; eases off within a few days |
| Linked to dose & placement | |
| An over-relaxed or longer-looking upper lip, or an uneven smile | Comes from too much product or imprecise placement — the reason an experienced injector matters |
| Uncommonly, some difficulty with speech or with eating and drinking | Technique- and dose-dependent; temporary — it wears off |
That’s the whole reason an experienced, registered injector matters more than the brand of toxin. And because the effect is temporary, if something does need to settle, it wears off rather than staying for good.
Before and After
What I’m aiming for is a subtle, natural change — a little less gum when you smile, not a smile that looks done. In five years I’d want you glad you did it, not stuck explaining what you had done.
What It Costs
The honest answer on price: I’d rather you came here because you trust how carefully it’s done than because it was the cheapest name on a list.
| Gummy smile treatment | £75 |
|---|---|
| Consultation | Free |
The figure for you is set at that free consultation — after I’ve checked it’s even the right treatment for you. You can see the full treatment price list here.
Book a Consultation with Dr Majid Shah
If you’re weighing it up, the next step is just a conversation — not a commitment.
The consultation is free and it’s one-to-one with me, here in Birmingham. We’ll work out whether your gummy smile is the muscular kind I can help with — and if it isn’t, I’ll say so and point you the right way.
There’s no pressure to decide anything on the day. The right call is the one you’re comfortable with, not the one I’d like you to make.
Book a free consultation with Dr Shah
Frequently Asked Questions
Is gummy smile Botox safe?
Done properly, problems are uncommon — and “properly” means a prescriber checks it’s right for you first, then an experienced injector places a small, precise dose.
No medical treatment is completely without risk, and I won’t tell you otherwise. But for the right candidate, the risks are small and temporary.
Will it make my lips look bigger?
No. The Botox goes into the muscle that lifts your lip, above the lip itself — not into the lip.
It changes how high your lip rises, not its size or shape. If it’s more lip volume you’re after, that’s a different treatment.
What if I don’t like the result?
Because it’s temporary, you’re not locked in. It wears off over a few months and your smile goes back to how it was before.
That’s part of why it’s a lower-commitment way to try this than anything permanent — and why I’d still rather start conservative and review you than do too much up front.