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Gum Recession Treatment: The Benefits of Early Treatment

Dr. Neeti Khandelwal

If you begin to experience gum recession then it would be very beneficial if you sought out early treatment. This is mainly because gum recession is a major warning sign that you may be in the very beginning stages of gum disease. Gum disease is important to treat when it is in its early stages to avoid it developing into advanced gum disease.

Gum recession is when your gum tissue pulls away from your teeth, exposing the roots underneath. It’s caused by several factors, including aggressive brushing, smoking and even genetics. Gum recession treatment includes antibiotics, antimicrobial mouth rinses and surgery. Gum recession can’t be reversed, but treatment can prevent it from getting worse GUM DISEASE EDUCATION

If you look in the mirror and see your gums receding or pulling back, don’t ignore it. With receding gums, you might notice your teeth look longer because gum recession exposes more of the base of your teeth. Plus, you might also notice other symptoms like

  1. Bleeding gums when you brush or floss
  2. Swollen gums
  3. Bad breath
  4. Darkening or reddening of gum tissue
  5. Gum tenderness
  6. Loose or shifting teeth
  7. Changes in your bite or the way your teeth fit together.

The most common cause of receding gums is periodontal disease, or “gum disease.” Statistics show most adults over thirty have some periodontal disease, and the incidence goes up with age. Gum disease occurs when plaque — a sticky film of bacteria — builds up on the best of teeth and inflames the fibres that hold your gums in place. Without treatment, pockets form between your teeth that “hide” bacteria and make it harder for you to remove them when you brush.

In determining how significant a person’s gum disease is, a dentist or periodontist, a specialist in periodontal disease, measures the depth of the pockets. Gum disease ranges in severity from mild to severe. In moderate to severe cases, gum inflammation spreads into the supporting ligaments that help hold your teeth in place or into the bone. At this stage, teeth can become loose, and you could experience tooth loss. Untreated periodontal disease is the most common cause of tooth loss.

Fortunately, there are treatments for gum recessions caused by periodontal disease that can help you save your teeth. In the initial stages, home hygiene measures may be sufficient, but in more advanced stages of periodontal disease, you may need scaling and planing, a deep cleaning process that removes deeper plaque and pockets of bacteria and smoothes the deeper surfaces of your teeth to make it harder for bacteria to stick to your teeth.

More advanced stages of periodontal disease may require receding gum treatment surgery, including the placement of membrane and bone grafts.

Overview

What is gum recession?

Gum recession is a form of gum disease. It happens when your gum tissue pulls away from your teeth, exposing the roots underneath. This makes your teeth more vulnerable to cavities. Your teeth can become more sensitive when brushing or when eating as well. Gum recession can be mild, moderate or severe. It may affect one tooth or multiple teeth.

Who does gum recession affect?

While gum recession can affect people of all ages, it’s most common in people over 65. You’re more likely to develop a recession if you

  1. Have periodontal disease.
  2. Had braces or other orthodontic treatment.
  3. Use chewing tobacco.
  4. Have a lip or tongue piercing.
  5. Brush your teeth aggressively.

How common is gum recession?

Gum recession is a common dental problem. Approximately 88% of people over the age of 65 have gum recession on one or more teeth.

Symptoms and Causes

What are the symptoms of gum recession?

The most apparent sign of gum recession is tooth root exposure. Other gum recession warning signs include:

  1. Pain or discomfort near your gum line.
  2. Sensitivity to heat, cold and sweets.
  3. Sensitivity when brushing and flossing your teeth.
  4. Sensitivity during dental cleanings.

Left untreated, gum recession can lead to other serious oral health problems, such as bone loss, tooth mobility or feeling “wiggly” or even tooth loss. If you notice any of the symptoms listed above, schedule an appointment with your dentist right away.

Most of the time, neglecting to clean your mouth contributes the most to receding gums. Being overzealous with brushing can also make your gums recede though, so proceed with your oral hygiene with due caution.

When you consume loads of sweet or starchy foods unchecked, it usually results in bacteria forming into plaque that can then turn into tartar (plaque with calcium deposits or calculus). This inflames your gums to the point of recession.

Your Gums Can End Up Receding Like An Elderly Gentleman’s Hairline Due To The Following Reasons

  • Hard Brushing: You brush your teeth too hard. Yes, there’s such a thing as brushing your teeth too hard to the point of making your gums bleed or injured, despite your best intentions of (ironically) avoiding gum problems.

  • Gingival Trauma: Gum tissue trauma. Injuring your “gingiva” or gums by brushing hard, getting clocked with a punch, boxing without a mouth guard, getting into a car accident, and so forth can make gums recede.

  • Plaque and Tartar: Tartar or plaque buildup because you’ve neglected to brush your teeth can also make your gums recede. You should find a balance between aggressive brushing and neglecting to brush.

  • Periodontal Disease: Gingivitis leads to periodontal disease. You can avoid periodontal disease by reversing the course of your gingivitis or gum disease that regularly gets infected due to hard brushing or neglect.

  • Misaligned Teeth: If your teeth are abnormally positioned, like in the case of partially erupted molars and wisdom teeth, that can create hard-to-reach bacterial pockets and infections leading to gum recession.

  • Chewing or Smoking Tobacco: The use of tobacco as chewing tobacco or by inhalation as cigarettes or cigars can lead to receding gums when push comes to shove. Tobacco is a no-no as far as your gums are concerned.

  • Tongue and Lip Piercings: Pierced lips and tongues can lead to mouth sores and canker sores. If left untreated, these wounds could get infected and lead to gingivitis, periodontal disease, and gum recession.

Other cases have patients end up simply predisposed to receding gum issues, thus necessitating better habits or even dental treatments to deal with the potential recession and related complications.

Prevention Of Receding Gums

However, can you prevent your gums from receding in the first place? Technically, it’s sometimes unavoidable. However, like ageing and the natural breakdown of your body, it’s an irreversible process that you want to prevent as much as possible.

People with thinning or thin gums need to be extra careful when taking care of their gingival and periodontal health. Risk reduction can take the form of the following anti-recession tactics and gingival care remedies

  • Gentle Yet Thorough Brushing: Brush your teeth at least twice or more every day. Brush gently but thoroughly. By thoroughly, we mean every nook and cranny of your teeth.

  • Do Some Gentle Brushing: Buy a soft-bristled toothbrush to ensure that you’re brushing your teeth gently without damaging your gums. You can also get an electric toothbrush that brushes your teeth at the recommended pressure.

  • Floss Regularly: Floss at least as much as you brush your teeth. You can use the floss to better directly scrape at film or plaque forming on the enamel surface or shell of your teeth as well.

  • Use Mouthwash Too: Gargle with mouthwash brands like Bactidol or Listerine. Use the antimicrobial ones or even the ones with an alcohol content to kill off plaque-causing mouth germs.

  • Schedule Teeth Cleaning: Avail of prophylaxis or even deep cleanings done by your family dentist. Quite a lot of people follow the six-month or half-year rule so that they can clean their teeth twice a year.

  • Early Diagnosis: Regardless of what caused your gums to recede, getting it diagnosed and treated ASAP can assist in the prevention of receding gums and long-term issues with your gingival and periodontal health.

  • Tobacco Consumption: Don’t smoke. Don’t smoke cigarettes, cigars, or tobacco products. Don’t use chewing tobacco either. They could ruin your teeth and make your gums recede. Smoking marijuana in excess could do the same thing.

If you’re seeing any signs and symptoms of receding gums, always consult your dentist first. You can refer to guides like this as a way to get a better idea of what you’re going through, but a paid diagnosis from a professional remains your best course of action.

Diagnosis and Tests

How is gum recession diagnosed?

our dentist at smilex international dental centre can diagnose gum recession during a routine examination. They’ll measure the amount of gum recession on each tooth using a special instrument called a periodontal probe.

Bone loss is common in areas of gum recession. For this reason, your dentist will also measure the periodontal pockets around each tooth. Healthy pockets measure between 1 and 3 millimetres. With gingivitis, pockets measure 4 millimetres. If you have periodontal disease, your pockets will measure 5 millimetres or higher.

Management and treatment of dental recession

When treating receding gums, it’s mostly dependent on the condition’s root cause. Mild receding gums can be dealt with using non-surgical solutions.

This includes orthodontics, desensitizing toothpaste, topical antibiotics, deep cleaning, scaling, root planing, and dental bonding. Non-surgical receding gums treatments include the following.

1.Deep Cleaning, Root Planing, and Scaling: If the root cause of your receding gums is a periodontal disease like periodontitis, your best course of action might be to deal with it using topical antibiotics. Your hygienist or dentist will specifically clean your teeth of the disease.

With the application of local anaesthesia, they’ll do some deep dental cleaning in the form of scaling and root planing to remove the diseased portions of the area as well as harmful bacteria hidden under your gum line that’s causing advanced gum disease.

2.Topical Antibiotics: By recommendation of your periodontist, the gum disease might sometimes be treated with the insertion of the topical antibiotic directly underneath the gums for gum disease and periodontal disease treatment. This is best done during a deep dental cleaning, scaling, and root planing though.

3.Desensitizing Toothpaste: Desensitizing toothpaste of any brand is specifically formulated to alleviate your suffering when you have receding gums and exposed tooth roots with only a cementum layer covering them.

You should specifically search for agents like strontium chloride, arginine, stannous fluoride, and/or potassium nitrate on the list of desensitizing toothpaste ingredients. They assist in cooling down aggravated tooth nerves. It takes weeks for the toothpaste to work so it’s best to use them for long-term desensitization.

4.Dental Bonding: For both aesthetic and functional purposes, the dentist can camouflage the receding gums area with a composite resin that’s the same colour as your teeth. Yes, the same material is used for tooth filing. It covers the tooth root to desensitize and protect it from exposure due to your receding gum line.

5.Orthodontics: Strangely enough, the dental art of straightening out crooked teeth to correct overbites, underbites, or jaws that jut out can assist when it comes to receding gums. It’s because rotated, tipped, or uneven teeth can also recede gums.

In the cases wherein crooked or uneven teeth have caused your gum line to recede, you can use braces to correct the error and put your gum line back in place. After the tooth or teeth have been moved into proper placement, the gum line might adjust in due time.. We provide best treatment with affordable Braces cost in Pune.

Receding Gums Treatment -Surgical

However, in a large number of cases, receding gum treatment surgery might be called for to “reverse” receding gums by implanting gum grafts to solve the issue.

It’s not unlike how if you have severe receding hair, you either opt for a toupee or hair implants. Nevertheless, unlike receding hair, receding gums have functional consequences and pain involved, thus making surgery more of a priority than a cosmetic procedure.

Surgical solutions entail the following considerations.

Gum recession surgery typically involves surgically implanting gum grafts into receding gums to pull back the recession with new gums, which in turn should hopefully heal the damage done by the recession.

Gum grafting is the proven and most enduring of your receding gum solutions. Usually, the gum specialist or periodontist surgeon does the surgery themselves since it requires a specialist for it to get done properly.

During gum grafting surgery, the graft is implanted on the absent tissue or the exposed parts of your jaw where the gum line has receded. The graft usually originates from the roof of your mouth. It might also come in the form of sterilized gums of human donors.

After gum graft placement, the periodontist stitches the graft with the receded gums like linking a tear in the cloth by stitching extra cloth over it. You have several gum grafting options to choose from. Modern grafting surgery is also minimally invasive compared to grafting in the past.

The recovery period for gum grafting depends on multiple factors. This includes the origin of the graft (if taken from the roof of your mouth, then that area needs healing too) and the number of treated teeth.

The type of grafting procedure can also determine how long the recovery time is after surgery. For the most part, patients who’ve undergone gum grafting can heal up in about two weeks barring any complications.

The periodontist will give you detailed instructions after the operation. Follow them carefully to ensure that your recovery is a complete success without any pain or discomfort afterwards.

To avoid getting to the point of requiring gingival grafting and deep cleaning, you should be careful about letting the plaque and tartar buildup on your teeth go beyond the point of no return. Their bacteria can make your gums chronically infected, inflamed, and sore, leading to periodontal disease.

Nonsurgical treatments for gum recession may include:

Gum recession surgery

Gum graft surgery is the most predictable and long-lasting treatment option for gum recession. Typically, a periodontist (gum specialist) performs this procedure.

During this surgery, a gum graft is used to replace your missing gum tissue. The graft usually is taken from the roof of your mouth but occasionally can come from sterilized human donor tissue.

Once the gum graft is in the proper position, your surgeon stitches it into place. There are several different types of gum grafting procedures. Your surgeon can help determine which one is right for your situation. Today’s gum grafting procedures are minimally invasive.

Your recovery time will depend on several factors, including how many teeth were treated, where the gum graft came from and what type of grafting procedure was done. In most cases, people who undergo gum recession surgery feel back to normal in about two weeks.

Your surgeon will provide you with detailed postoperative instructions. You should follow these instructions closely to foster a comfortable, successful recovery.

Frequently asked questions

Unfortunately, receding gums can’t grow back. But, you can take steps to prevent gum recession from worsening.

Many people with gum recession experience pain or sensitivity. This is because your tooth roots aren’t covered with protective enamel. They’re covered with cementum, which isn’t as strong. Your dentist can apply fluoride varnish or other desensitizing agents to reduce discomfort associated with receding gums. You can also use desensitizing toothpaste at home. Your dental hygienist can use numbing agents to make you more comfortable during your dental cleanings as well.

As mentioned above, desensitizing toothpaste can help ease discomfort associated with gum recession. Look for active ingredients like potassium nitrate, stannous fluoride, arginine and strontium chloride. These ingredients help calm the nerves inside your teeth. Desensitizing toothpaste is best when used long-term, and it can take several weeks to start working.

Gum recession treatment largely depends on what caused the condition. Mild cases of gum recession may be improved with nonsurgical treatments, such as topical antibiotics, dental bonding or orthodontics. In most instances, however, gum recession surgery is needed to fully correct the problem.

Nonsurgical treatments for gum recession may include:

Gum recession surgery

Gum graft surgery is the most predictable and long-lasting treatment option for gum recession. Typically, a periodontist (gum specialist) performs this procedure.

During this surgery, a gum graft is used to replace your missing gum tissue. The graft usually is taken from the roof of your mouth but occasionally can come from sterilized human donor tissue.

Once the gum graft is in the proper position, your surgeon stitches it into place. There are several different types of gum grafting procedures. Your surgeon can help determine which one is right for your situation. Today’s gum grafting procedures are minimally invasive.

Your recovery time will depend on several factors, including how many teeth were treated, where the gum graft came from and what type of grafting procedure was done. In most cases, people who undergo gum recession surgery feel back to normal in about two weeks.

Your surgeon will provide you with detailed postoperative instructions. You should follow these instructions closely to foster a comfortable, successful recovery.

Prevention

Gum recession can’t always be prevented, especially if you are genetically predisposed to the thin gum tissue. However, you can significantly reduce your risk of infection-related gum recession by practising proper teeth and gum care. For example:

  1. Brush your teeth thoroughly twice every day.
  2. Floss once daily.
  3. Use an antimicrobial mouthwash twice daily.
  4. Follow your dentist’s recommendation for teeth cleanings. (Many people can maintain healthy gums with six-month cleanings, but some may need more frequent visits.)
  5. Use a soft-bristled toothbrush.
  6. Don’t smoke or use chewing tobacco.

See your dentist if you notice any signs of gum recession.

Outlook / Prognosis

If your dentist notices that you have a mild gum recession, they may try some nonsurgical treatments, such as topical antibiotics or dental bonding. If you have moderate to severe gum recession, they’ll likely refer you to a periodontist or oral surgeon for a gum grafting consultation.

Gum recession can’t be cured. But, it can be successfully managed with proper treatment and care.

If you notice that your teeth roots are more visible than they used to be — or if you have increased teeth sensitivity — you could have gum recession. It’s important to call your dentist or periodontist at the first sign of problems. The sooner gum recession is detected and treated, the better chance you have of establishing optimal oral health.

Learning all you can about gum recession can help you avoid common problems and restore your oral health. Here are some questions to ask your dentist:

  1. How advanced is my gum recession?
  2. Are there any nonsurgical options that could work for me?
  3. If not, what type of gum grafting surgery do you recommend?
  4. What are the chances of my gum recession coming back?
  5. How often should I have my teeth cleaned?

A note from smilex international dental centre that if Left untreated, gum recession can wreak havoc on your oral health. Even if you don’t develop pain or sensitivity, it’s important to have an evaluation with your dentist if your gums are receding. They can tell you how serious the problem is, and what steps you can take to protect your oral health.

If your dentist says you’re suffering from a mild case of receding gums, you might be recommended several treatments that don’t require surgery. This includes dental bonding and topical (as in directly on gums) antibiotics.

As for medium or heavy cases of receding gums, your dentist will give you a periodontist referral. Contact that periodontist to get started with what’s known as surgical gum grafting. You might also be referred to an oral surgeon as well.

As soon as possible. In particular, talk to your dental doctor if your teeth have become more sensitive to heat or cold as well as pressure. Ditto if you can now see more of your tooth roots than before.

Receding gums can lead to periodontal disease, which includes symptoms like loose or wobbly teeth. A dentist must be called as soon as you detect any recession issues. The quicker you address the problem the more favourable its outcome.

Your teeth and/or gums may feel more sensitive to temperature or pressure due to receding gums. Now that your teeth’s roots aren’t shielded by gums and enamel, they become more vulnerable.

Roots only have a layer of cementum covering them, which isn’t as resilient as the hard outer tooth shell. Meanwhile, the upper parts of the tooth have a dentin layer below the enamel shell, which when exposed also causes pain.

To deal with tooth recession complications like tooth sensitivity due to exposed roots and possible periodontitis, you might be given a prescription for a toothpaste that desensitizes your teeth.

Your dental doctor can also put what’s known as fluoride varnish and similar desensitization applications on the exposed roots for the sake of pain reduction linked to gum recession. A hygienist can also apply numbing agents during prophylaxis cleanings too.

No, once the gums have receded, they won’t naturally grow back. You’ll have to pay extra for gum grafting to get back to your original gum health.

It’s the same way you have to pay for dental implants to get natural-feeling crowns to replace your missing teeth. On that note, can you cure receding gums? No. You can only manage it.

Particularly severe cases require gum grafting because of how irreversible gum recession can get. Don’t forget that an ounce of prevention is always better than a pound of cure.

It’s a Wrap

Gingival recession happens because of various causes, which includes overly aggressive use of hard-bristled toothbrushes, smoking tobacco, or genetically thin gums. To treat receding gums, use medicine like antibacterial mouthwash, antibiotics, or surgical solutions.

Once your gum recedes you can’t reverse it (hence the need for gum grafting). However, treatments exist to prevent it from happening or to keep it from becoming even worse than before.

Smilex international dental centre  Is india’s one of the longest established dental center and also known as one of the best dental clinics in Pune. Situated in pune, our clinic is renowned across the world as a destination for world-class dentistry, with most of our patients flying to us from abroad.

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