Weak gums mean that your gums retract, revealing the underlying root. The first sign is mostly sensitive teeth. However, you may see a tooth that appears longer than normal, or you may feel a notch at the junction of the tooth and gums. There are some ways you can prevent receding gums for your dental health.
What Are Receding Gums?
Periodontitis, called receding gums or gums disease, is a serious gum infection that damages the soft tissue around the teeth and, if left untreated, can destroy the bone that supports an individual’s teeth. Receding gums (periodontitis) can cause teeth to loosen or cause tooth loss.
Receding Gums Causes
Some factors that cause receding gums are:
Age
In advanced ages, as in every organ in our body, there are also recessions in our gums. This is a natural situation. In elderly people, if this situation does not cause caries formation, tooth sensitivity and an image problem, no treatment is recommended.
Gingivitis
In cases where gingivitis caused by bacterial plaque accumulation cannot be stopped, it immediately progresses to the bone tissue under the gums. As a result, they cause bone destruction. Upon the destruction of the bone, the gum follows the bone and gradually pulls out. As a result, some gaps are formed between the teeth.
Tartar
Tartar is formed as a result of the hardening of bacterial plaque, which is a soft, purulent attachment that cannot be cleaned, by taking calcium ions from saliva. It can trigger gum recession by putting mechanical pressure on the gums.
After Some Dental Operations
As a result of gum treatments, there is some shrinkage due to the healing of the gum tissue, which is especially edematous and swollen. This is actually an indicator of improvement. In addition, in gingival treatments where surgical procedure is applied, inflamed tissues are necessarily removed and gingival recession may inevitably occur as a result of this procedure.
Hormonal Changes
Fluctuations in female hormone levels, such as in puberty, pregnancy, and can make gums more sensitive and more vulnerable to receding gums.
Aggressive Tooth Brushing
It can cause the enamel on your teeth to wear away and your gums to recede, İf you brush your teeth too hard or the wrong way.
Insufficient Dental Care
Inadequate brushing makes it easy for plaque to turn into calculus a hard substance that builds on and between your teeth and can only be removed by a professional dental cleaning. It can cause to gum recession.
Receding Gums Symptoms
The symptoms that are generally seen in patients who experience gum recession are:
- sensitivity to cold and heat
- changing tooth appearance
- bad breath
- loose teeth
- bleeding after brushing or flossing
- red, swollen or white gums
However, many people may not experience symptoms. In the mean time they may not be aware that their gums are receding. You should be examined regularly by your dentist so that you can notice early whether you have gum recession or not. Usually, specialists report that a dental examination is necessary every 6 months.
How To Prevent Receding Gums?
Among the questions that patients with gum recession problems often ask are, ‘How to help receding gums?’ or ”How to stop receding gums from getting worse?”. One of the best ways to prevent gum recession is to protect your oral and dental health. For this, you need to brush your teeth every day. We also recommend flossing regularly. In addition, you should be examined by your periodontist at least twice a year. Make sure the toothbrush you use is soft-bristled. Learn the right tooth brushing techniques from your dentist. Apart from these, other ways to prevent gum recession include:
- Quit smoking if you smoke.
- Monitor changes that may occur in your mouth.
- Eat a well-balanced and healthy diet.
- After brushing your teeth, rinse your mouth with an antibacterial mouthwash.
Best Mouthwash for Receding Gums
Receding gums mouthwash is very effective when gargling is done with daisy juice. For this, boil 250 ml. of water and throw 2 – 3 teaspoons of daisy into the boiling water. Wait about 10 minutes. Then strain the mixture. You can use this mixture after brushing your teeth twice a day. However, you can also use an antibacterial mouthwash your doctor recommends.
Best Toothpaste for Receding Gums
There is a receding gums tooth paste that we can recommend to you specially. But anyone reading this blog post may be allergic to the paste we recommend. For this reason, we cannot name the paste in our blog post. However, you can ask your dentist for the most suitable gum recession paste for you.
Are Receding Gums Grow Back?
Once the gums begin to weaken, they do not return to their former state. Therefore, it is very important to notice and prevent the problem at the earliest stage (before it turns into a worse situation). Otherwise, you may need a receding gums surgery. However, if you are diagnosed early and receding gums cure correctly, your gums come back.
Receding Gums Treatments
In the case of mild gum recession, your dentist can treat the affected area by thoroughly cleaning it. During a deep cleaning, your doctor carefully removes plaque and tartar that have accumulated on the teeth and root surfaces below the gum line. It then flattens the exposed root zone to make it harder for bacteria to grow. Your doctor may recommend antibiotics to get rid of harmful bacteria that remain after the procedure. This may include home remedies for receding gums.
What Type of Surgery Is Used to Treat Gum Recession?
The following surgical procedures are used to treat this dental problem:
Open Flap Scaling and Root Planing
In this operation, your doctor redoubles the affected gum tissue and removes harmful bacteria from the pockets. Then it firmly fixes the gum tissue in place on the tooth root. This procedure is performed in order to directly intervene in the bone under the gum tissue in cases where bone destruction progresses. Since your doctor will perform the procedure under local anesthesia, you will not feel pain during the operation.
Regeneration
This operation is performed to replace the lost bone and tissue. Your dentist will fold the gum tissue back and remove any bacteria. Then, it applies a regenerating material to the bones and tissues in that area. After inserting the regenerative material, it fixes the gum tissue to the tooth root.
Soft Tissue Graft
Commonly applied connective tissue graft is used to treat one or more gum sites. During the procedure, your doctor will remove a tissue flip from your palate. Then it sews this tissue in the root area. Free gum grafts are similar to connective tissue grafts, but the tissue is taken directly from the palate. Pedicle grafts, on the other hand, use the tissue adjacent to the tooth that needs repair.
How To Fix Receding Gums Without Surgery?
Natural gum recession treatments are not commonly used. However, if you have an early-diagnosed gum recession problem, your doctor may recommend some medical treatments. Your doctor may recommend antibiotics to get rid of harmful bacteria that remain. This may include home remedies for receding gums.
You can contact us to have dental treatment at Erdem Clinic or to get information about the procedures. For this, you can also fill out the contact form on our Erdem Dental site.
Frequently Asked Questions
To understand this, you need to undergo an examination at a dentist. However, if you have a lot of sensitivity in your teeth and observe a few of the symptoms of gum recession, you may have this disease. As we said, you need to be examined by your dentist to understand this.
Some treatment methods are available for this. These may be simple medical treatments or may include some dental operations. The following treatments are commonly applied for the problem of tooth extraction: Open flap scaling and root planing, regeneration, and soft tissue graft.
This dental problem has been observed to increase in vitamin C deficiency in general. For this reason, we recommend that you take plenty of vitamin C. However, you should also have received adequate amounts of vitamin D and vitamin A.