How Can I Uncover My Teeth Due To A Low Hanging Upper Lip?

Q: Dr. Eppley, my upper lip covers my upper teeth when I smile, especially towards the middle two teeth. The lips form kind of a v shape where the corners of my mouths are raised while the middle of it droops. Not to be confused, the sides of my lips also cover my upper teeth, just not as much as the middle. I desire full upper teeth show across the whole lip, sides and the middle. Ive attached how I’d like it in the third and fourth pictures. I do get the same effect as the model picture when I forcibly, unnaturally fold upper lip inward, causing it to fold in half and also be thinner allowing full upper tooth show like the model.

For reference my lips are already full so I don’t think a lip lift wouldn’t help my case. Also, I don’t know if this case is due to my narrow palate or weak maxilla.

To note, in the winter, when I smile, the line in upper lip becomes more apparent because one side of the line is drier than the other (which is the bottom side of my upper lip covering the top of my upper teeth).

A:Much like a patient with the true double lip you have excessive mucosa which hangs down from the inside of the lip. This is treated by an internal mucosal incision or would sometimes can be called a smile line reduction.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Plastic Surgeon