Sometimes the position of selected upper teeth contributes
Orthodontic treatment can sometimes reduce gum display when upper-tooth position contributes to it. The explanation is specific: moving selected upper teeth upward within their supporting bone is called intrusion. In an appropriate case, that intended change in tooth position can mean less gum shows when smiling.
This is not a conclusion you can draw from a smile photograph. The assessment must establish the contribution being addressed, the movement required and whether the proposed approach is suitable. Lip position, tissue appearance, oral health and the other assessed features still have their own meaning.
Intrusion changes position rather than removing gum tissue
The direction is part of the explanation. Intrusion moves the selected teeth upward within the bone that supports them. It does not mean shortening the visible tooth by trimming it or removing gum tissue. The clinician should connect that movement with the assessed tooth-position contribution to the display question.
A small 2025 clinical trial studied seventeen selected participants with deep bite and excessive gum display. Both groups used fixed appliances; measured intrusion accompanied reduced gum display in that selected setting. The study had no aligner arm. Its findings support this bounded movement explanation, not a prediction for every smile or proof that a particular appliance will work for you.
Primary study: Heravi and colleagues, Clinical Evaluation of Maxillary Incisors Intrusion, 2025.
Exposing more tooth crown is a different purpose
The American Academy of Periodontology describes crown lengthening in some cosmetic gum-line discussions as removing excess gum tissue to expose more tooth crown. That changes the tissue around the visible crown. It is different from repositioning a tooth through orthodontic intrusion.
Cleveland Clinic describes gum contouring as changing gum appearance, typically through a periodontist. A professional proposing tissue work must explain the actual procedure, assessment and purpose. Do not assume that the names crown lengthening and contouring identify the same proposed work for an individual.
A tooth-position contribution does not automatically create a tissue-procedure indication, and a tissue explanation does not supply a movement plan. This guide's descriptions establish neither a personal recommendation nor local availability of a particular procedure or anchorage method.
Why “braces or aligners” is not enough information
An appliance name does not identify the required movement or the support needed to control it. The fixed-appliance trial above cannot establish an aligners-alone benefit. A published 2020 aligner case also involved bone-screw anchorage, extractions and tissue procedures. Those combined interventions prevent attributing the final gum appearance to aligners alone.
A computer modelling paper can examine a proposed force system, but it is not a patient treatment outcome. These different evidence types should not be combined into a promise that any aligner course will reduce gum display. The practical answer is conditional: the assessed contribution, intended movement and complete individual plan determine what is being proposed.
Lin, Chang and Roberts, combined aligner case, 2020 · Geramy and Ebrahimi, computer modelling study, 2023.
Connect the finding, movement and purpose
The next lesson gives Nora a clearly hypothetical finding and a professional explanation of why intrusion is being discussed. Her interpretation separates the intended movement, the tissue purpose and the limited study observation from her own unknown result.
Read Nora's complete conversation. For a separate tooth surface or shape question, see position, shape and restorative goals. If an actual clinician raises a jaw-related goal, the tooth-position and jaw-relationship lesson explains those separate terms.
Sources for this lesson
Sources: Heravi et al.: selected fixed-appliance intrusion trial, 2025 · American Academy of Periodontology: Cosmetic Procedures · Cleveland Clinic: Gum Contouring · Lin, Chang and Roberts: combined aligner case, 2020 · Geramy and Ebrahimi: computer modelling, 2023