Can You Design A Gingival Mask Appliance For Me?

Q: Dr. Eppley, Hey how you doing Doc, how you been doing?it’s been a while, I don’t know if you remember Me I was your patient back in 2018 for custom midface and jawline implants. Everything on my side is Great the outcome came out excellent. I have one small thing to ask of you if you could design, it’s something Dental it is called Gingival Mask / gingival Veneers…you see the little problem I still have it’s that the upper gums of mines are still deficient they are flat and by creating this it will add volume by lifting and pushing forward the upper lip area like a Lefort 1 and will also show my upper front teeth. I have created homemade gingival mask but I’m no dentist. the Area of the upper gum I’m talking about are “Alveolar Mucosa and mucogingival junction”… I’ll send you pictures and videos of the gingival mask that I’m talking about, it’s like a denture but for upper gums, it’s actually easy to create but the dentist down here in Florida are just talentless. These are some labs that I’ve read online that dentists send it to create it, Glidewell lab or the Chromeworks Lab Let me know if you could create this for Me thank you.

A:Good to hear from you again, I remember you like it was yesterday. Originally being a dentist I am familiar with the Gingival Mask device and as the final piece to your midface horizontal deficiency I can see why that would be appealing to you. This is an acrylic device that is made from an upper dental model that is sent out to a lab like Glidewell as you have mentioned. Since it relies on a maxillary impression/model this is why you should work with a local dentist since this is the foundation on which the appliance is made. Unfortunately you can not use the 3D CT scan from which your midface and jaw implants were made.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World Renowned Plastic Surgeon