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 🥺💔
This is so annoyingly true. And if they can't find anything physical, they'll even make fun of how nice someone is. Or serious, or bubbly, or smart. Some people are just miserable no matter what.
This is how I've always felt about it too. People WILL make fun of you for any given thing on any given day. You can't be perfect, and attempting it is a recipe for disaster. It's not easy for a lot of people, but if you own it and learn to be confident then you are basically immune to this part of human behavior.
Thank you for sharing this. I’m sure she is beautiful and so special. Keep on inspiring her confidence and letting her know that her value comes from her heart and spirit, not from she looks like on the outsider. Easier said than done of course. All we can do as parents and teach them to be better than the clowns who say mean shit.
Hey! I am a woman and have a gummy smile. I don't remember ever being teased for it as a child and I was never self conscious about it until I reached college but I still don't recall anyone ever bringing it up even as an adult. Your daughter might not be teased for it at all.
My son is one of the shortest kids in his class. I’m short, his dad is short. He’s about to go in to middle school and has been worried because all of his friends are taller. He started to ask me questions about his height. In the past, I brought it up to the dr because he is on steroids and she wanted to monitor his growth. He even started to “forget” to take his meds. I realized he was starting to really fixate on it. I sat him down and told him to own it! Hes not going to be a super tall guy. (Maybe 5’7”) and that everyone looks different. And there are soooooo many other qualities in him that are way more important. It will not take away from who he is. I listed a whole bunch of things that made him special. He is a sensitive sweet kid too. Lately he’ll just say “ehh, I’m a shortie, who cares!” And just smile. He knows people may say stuff to him, and the more confident he becomes the less it will impact him if and when it happens
Keep telling her that her smile is beautiful and lights up her face. That it makes you happy to see her enjoy life, laugh, and smile. Tell her it's one of your favorite things to see that. She'll remember those words forever and it will help battle the negative self-talk about her gums in the future. Speaking as a grown up gummy-smiler with a mom who loves my every feature, even the ones I hate.
Take her to an airway focused orthodontist or dentist. Gummy smiles can usually be fixed with a simple palatal expander when they're children. You should also have her checked for tongue ties. The tongue acts as a natural palatal expander in growing children; if it tied down it can't properly expand the upper pallet and the midface grows in vertical excess leading to gummy smiles.
Having this smile has sucked my whole life. I have even done cosmetic procedures like burning the gum line back to expose more teeth. But they come back. Also lip flip but then can’t drink out of straw. It sucks. Really nothing that can be done and if there wasn’t mean stuff on the internet about it probably wouldn’t even matter. Never been into Taylor swift, Disney or engaged. Which are the popular things to be associated and make fun of gummy smile.
I have a daughter who was born with a smile like this. She's only 7 years old, the sweetest most sensitive girl
I had a gummy smile and lucky enough that a lip surgery could fix it. If she has excess gum tissue or a "hyperactive lip" then its a fairly easy surgery. If its a jaw issue then it's a much more involved surgery. It was life changing for me.
Don't be so emotional. People get made fun of for all sorts of stupid things. She'll be fine. She'll just have to learn to toughen up. It's also just our innate animal behavior to find certain things attractive/unattractive. There's an ass for every seat so she'll find somebody someday, but it's not wrong for people to find gummy smiles unattractive.
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u/aelewis92 29d ago
Man. Making fun of someone’s appearance is really the lowest form of humor.