How To Treat Lip Incompetence | Protruding Lips | Sealed Lips | Incompetence Lips Correction | Lip Seal Strengthening Exercise
Lip incompetence, also known as mentalis strain, refers to a condition characterized by an inability to easily hold the lips together while at rest. Other common features of lip incompetence include protruding lips, and strain in the lower facial region when you try to seal your lips.
Lip incompetence is frequently caused by protrusive upper (and sometimes also lower) teeth. Orthodontists have a variety of ways to bring back teeth that stick out and the strategy chosen depends on many factors specific to each patient. Facial bone structure can also cause people to have lip incompetence.
If you are unsure if you have lip incompetence, here are some of the symptoms.
Inability to close the lips completely - this might include upper lip incompetence, lower lip incompetence, or both.
Drooling - without a proper lip seal, this tends to be a frequent occurrence.
Difficulty speaking clearly - younger patients especially may face this symptom more often, but also adults.
Difficulty eating or drinking - this condition can also affect the quality of your life.
There are several ways to tighten your lip muscles. The more invasive method is surgery, with various procedures available. However, there is also a less invasive and less painful way to correct this condition.
Surgery
So, does lip repositioning surgery fix lip incompetence? The answer is that it might.
Lip Repair - there are different procedures to perform a lip repair, and there are even a few studies that confirm some successful cases. However, surgery is a very invasive method.
Lip Reconstruction - a complete reconstruction of the lip is a surgical procedure that is more forward than lip repair surgery. So you need to consult a professional to check if you are a good candidate for a lip procedure.
Tongue-lip adhesion - a surgery that is performed, mostly in infants to prevent the tongue from falling back into the throat.