Gummy Smile Treatment Cost UK 2026: Complete Price Breakdown

You know that thing where you see a photo of yourself laughing and immediately think "god, my gums"?

You're not imagining it, and you're not being vain. Around 10 to 15% of people have what dentists call "excessive gingival display" - which is the clinical way of saying your gums steal the show when you smile. And if you've landed here, you're probably wondering what it would actually cost to do something about it.

Here's the good news: this isn't the big surgical production you might be picturing. Most gummy smiles can be treated in a single appointment, often in under an hour. The most common treatment is Botox, which runs £100 to £400. If the issue is excess gum tissue, laser contouring costs £200 to £400 per tooth. For very complex cases, surgery can still solve the problem, but it's very rarely the solution. People who need surgery have a specific reason they need it.

The real question isn't just "how much" though - it's "which treatment actually fixes my gummy smile?" Because that depends entirely on why yours happens in the first place.

Why Gummy Smiles Happen

A gummy smile isn't one thing. It's a symptom that can have completely different causes, and that's actually great news because it means there's a specific fix for yours.

The most common culprit is an overenthusiastic lip muscle. When you smile, the muscle controlling your upper lip pulls it higher than it needs to go, revealing gums that would otherwise stay hidden. This one's the easiest to treat.

Sometimes your teeth are perfectly normal underneath, but excess gum tissue is covering them up. The gum never receded to reveal the full tooth like it should have during development. Your teeth look short because they're buried, not because they actually are.

A naturally short upper lip can cause it too. Even with normal muscle movement, less lip means less coverage when you smile. And occasionally the upper jaw grew a bit longer than average, positioning everything closer to the lip opening.

Most people have one or two of these going on. Once you know which, the right treatment becomes obvious.

Botox: £150 to £350

If your gummy smile comes from that overactive lip muscle, Botox is genuinely brilliant.

A tiny amount gets injected into the muscle that lifts your upper lip - right at the junction where your nostril meets the nose-to-mouth fold. Over the next week, the muscle relaxes just enough that your lip doesn't ride up so high when you smile. More tooth, less gum, done.

The whole thing takes about ten minutes. No downtime. You walk out and carry on with your day.

Prices vary quite a bit depending on where you go and who's doing it. Across the UK, gummy smile Botox typically ranges from £100 to £400. Pure aesthetics clinics often sit at the lower end, while dental practices and medical clinics tend to charge more - partly because you're getting a clinical assessment of whether Botox is actually the right solution for your particular gummy smile, or whether the issue is really gum tissue or tooth proportions that need addressing differently.

At UrgentCare Dental, the treatment is £280 and includes that proper diagnostic element - making sure you're not paying for Botox when laser contouring would actually solve the problem, or vice versa.

The one thing to know: Botox is temporary. Results last three to six months before the muscle gradually returns to its old habits. So you're looking at two to four appointments per year to maintain it. For some people that's perfect - low commitment, reversible, and you get to see how you feel about the change before doing anything permanent. For others, the ongoing cost adds up and they'd rather fix it once.

Laser Gum Contouring: £200 to £400 Per Tooth

When the issue is gum tissue covering teeth that are actually normal underneath, laser contouring reshapes your gum line permanently.

A dental laser precisely removes the excess gum, revealing more of each tooth. The laser seals blood vessels as it goes, which means minimal bleeding and faster healing than older surgical methods. You'll be numb for the procedure so you won't feel it happening, and afterwards it's a bit like that tender feeling when you've burned your mouth on hot food: uncomfortable for a few days, then fine.

Treating the upper front six teeth (the ones that show when you smile) typically runs £1,200 to £2,400 total. At UrgentCare Dental, gum contouring starts from £299 per tooth as part of a smile makeover approach.

The results are permanent. Once that gum tissue is reshaped, you're done.

Crown Lengthening: £500 to £1,500+

Sometimes the gum is covering your teeth because the bone underneath sits higher than it should. In these cases, just removing gum tissue wouldn't give stable results, because the gum would eventually grow back to match the bone level.

Crown lengthening removes a small amount of bone along with the gum, creating permanent clearance for your teeth to show through. It's a more involved procedure than laser contouring, taking one to two hours with stitches that dissolve over the following weeks.

Recovery means some swelling and soft foods for about a week, with full healing over four to six weeks. Costs range from £500 to £800 for a single tooth, or £1,500+ for comprehensive treatment across your smile zone.

This is the option when you want a permanent fix and laser contouring alone wouldn't cut it.

Lip Repositioning Surgery: £1,500 to £3,000+

For gummy smiles caused by how the lip itself is structured, lip repositioning offers a permanent alternative to ongoing Botox.

The procedure makes a small incision inside your upper lip, removes a strip of tissue, and sutures the lip in a lower position. This physically limits how high it can rise when you smile. Because everything happens inside your mouth, there's no visible scarring.

It's about an hour of surgery with one to two weeks of recovery. Swelling is normal at first and you'll need to be gentle with eating until things heal.

Prices start around £1,500 and can reach £3,000 at specialist clinics. Unlike Botox, you pay once and you're done.

Combination Treatments and Makeover Packages

Often the best results come from combining approaches. Someone might have both an overactive lip muscle and excess gum tissue, so treating just one wouldn't fully solve it.

Many clinics offer gummy smile makeover packages. A typical bundle might include gum contouring to reveal more tooth, whitening to brighten what's been revealed, and some tooth contouring to perfect the shapes. Some London clinics offer this complete package for around £995 to £1,500.

Composite bonding pairs beautifully with gummy smile treatment too. Once more tooth surface is visible after contouring, bonding can reshape and perfect the teeth themselves. The combination is transformative.

What Happens at a Consultation

A proper gummy smile assessment isn't just glancing at your smile in a mirror. The dentist will measure how much gum shows at rest versus when you're fully smiling. They'll check whether your lip movement is normal or hyperactive. They'll look at the relationship between your gum line and the underlying bone. And they'll assess whether your teeth are genuinely short or just appear that way.

This matters because it determines which treatment actually solves the problem versus just temporarily masking it. Botox won't help if your issue is excess gum tissue. Gum contouring won't help if your issue is an overactive muscle.

At UrgentCare Dental, the initial consultation is £20 and includes this full assessment. From there, treatment gets tailored to what's actually going on with your specific smile.

Working Out What's Right for You

If you want to test the waters with minimal commitment, Botox lets you see how you feel about showing less gum before doing anything permanent. Love it? You can either keep up the Botox or move to a permanent option knowing exactly what result you're after.

If you want a one-time fix and your issue is gum coverage, laser contouring gives permanent results at a mid-range price point. Higher upfront, but nothing ongoing.

For more complex situations or a comprehensive transformation, combining treatments addresses multiple factors at once.

The starting point is understanding why your smile appears gummy. That points you straight to the treatment that'll actually work - and tells you exactly what you're looking at cost-wise.