Some of the most challenging patients to produce a pleasing smile for are those who present with inadequate tooth display (either due to tooth position, the patient has normal size teeth, but they aren’t exposed adequately to fill out the smile) or due to tooth size (the teeth are small, often due to tooth wear). The key to understanding how to manage these patients is to learn to understand the possible aetiologies that could produce the condition, and learn how to diagnose which aetiologies exist for your patient. Potential aetiologies for inadequate tooth display in patients with normal length unworn anterior teeth: excessive lip length; inadequate lip mobility; inadequate vertical eruption of the anterior teeth; inadequate facial prominence of the maxillary anterior teeth; vertical maxillary deficiency; and anterior maxillary deficiency.


This article, the first in a British Dental Journal series on the topic of aesthetic dentistry, reviews the clinical findings consistent with diagnosing each of the above etiologies, and then reviews the treatment options available for correcting the inadequate tooth display.

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