New Procedure Is Reason to Smile

July 2, 2007 — -- For years, Vivian Manno reluctantly posed for pictures with her husband and two children, but it wasn't because she didn't love her family.

It was the photos that she dreaded

"I'm always self-conscious," she said. "Every time I'm smiling, I'm thinking about how much are my gums showing."

Manno said she trained herself to smile as slightly as she could, assuming her all-gum smile was something she'd just have to live with. Then she heard about gum lifts.

The revolutionary procedure was perfected by dentist-to-the-stars Greg Lituchy, who's polished the smiles of famous models Christy Turlington, Heidi Klum and Giselle Bundchen.

"Patients will come to me and say, 'You know, I don't like my smile. I want to do something about it,'" he said. "But they don't say, 'I don't like my gummy smile,' because I don't think they know there's a simple solution to their problem."

After a consultation, Lituchy went to work on Manno's gums.

Some patients' gum lines can be altered using a laser. In Manno's case there was so much tissue, her gum line needed to be surgically lifted, during which the gum is trimmed to expose the patient's teeth.

Manno said she was surprised that the procedure was painless. "If I knew then what I know now I would have done this 20 years ago," she said.

After Manno's newly lifted gums healed, she returned to Lituchy's office to be fitted for veneers, carefully sized, whiter teeth to accent her new gum line.

In just two hours, eight of Manno's teeth were drilled and prepped. Impressions were taken and temporary teeth were inserted to hold the place for her new smile.