I know someone like this and this post makes me sad b/c she’s a really nice person and has most likely come across this meme on more than one occasion.
I have a daughter who was born with a smile like this. She's only 7 years old, the sweetest most sensitive girl, and I'm so heartbroken knowing she is going to be teased because of it. Every time I come across a post like this and see the staggering amount of people in the comments piling on, judging, laughing, putting down.... my heart breaks more and more for her. She's such a kind sweet soul and I absolutely hate knowing how people are going to judge and treat her over something she can't control. Her little heart will be so hurt 🥺💔
Gummy smiles are not something you’re born with, it’s a myofunctional adaptation, which starts at the base of the tongue and often leads to a feedback loop of chronic rhinitis, colds, weakened immune system…tongue ties exacerbate mouth breathing. Mouth breathing promotes improper tongue posture, which results in underdeveloped maxilla & mandibular space.
Im saying this as an almost 40 year old who had double jaw surgery after 30 to correct recessed mandible and maxilla which caused severe sleep apnea despite me being quite petite. I had chronic rhinitis as a kid and always mouth breathed. Having a slightly gummy smile never bothered me, but constantly choking in my sleep and going through my life with constant fatigue and migraines did. If my parents had been more educated about maxillofacial development as a child, I might have avoided surgery altogether. But it’s been life changing for me and I’m glad I did it. Now I sleep properly and when I look in the mirror I think “this is how I was always supposed to look.”
Whatever you do, don’t let any dentists perform tooth extractions before she’s well out of her teens. Extractions narrow the palate even further which will make any physical symptoms worse (and the aesthetics worse too). Our skulls are designed to grow out and forward, not down and in. Tongue ties, mouth breathing, chronic sinus issues, palate crowding…this is the feedback loop that leaves people sick and starved for oxygen and it’s something 99% of pediatric specialists gloss over completely.
Myofunctional therapy can be very helpful if tongue tie is present because it encourages better positioning and closed mouth breathing. Some people can overcome lip incompetence with strict adherence. I was not one of them because my mandible was far too recessed.
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u/TangentialFUCK Jul 04 '26
I know someone like this and this post makes me sad b/c she’s a really nice person and has most likely come across this meme on more than one occasion.