“The gums do not bleed in any way when using dental floss or a toothbrush. It only bleeds when sick. “
What is Gingiva?
Gum is a keratinized soft tissue that covers around the tooth and is resistant to masticatory forces. In its healthy form, it is light rose dry pink in color and slightly grainy on top.
What is The Gingival Recession?
The gingiva advancing towards the root of the tooth and exposing the root surface is called gingival recession.
Gingival recession is not a disease but a symptom. Since it occurs, as a result, the measures are directed towards the cause.
What Are The Symptoms of Gum Recession?
If a tooth has gum recession, the patients might feel as if their gingiva teeth are elongated.
- Perceives as if the length of the tooth is longer.
- It may feel gaps between the teeth.
- The patient’s sensitivity to cold significantly increases.
- And may feel pain while brushing and will probably not want to touch the general gingival area.
Causes Gum Recession?
We can divide the causes of the gingival recession into two groups;
- As a result of gum diseases with bone loss, the gingiva follows the bone by receding along with bone atrophy. In such situations, the patients often feel gaps between their teeth. Swelling and bleeding of the gums are among the most apparent complaints. Small black spaces form between the teeth where food and drink residues can accumulate. Therefore, food impaction can happen.
- The second type of withdrawals; are withdrawals due to trauma. There is no question of any bone loss here. There is no emptiness in the bone between the teeth. However, a recession in the form of a half-moon is seen on the tooth’s front surface and progressing towards the lower part of the lip. This situation mainly develops due to complex and wrong brushing movements. Traumatic movements such as nail and pencil biting and teeth clenching can also cause gum recessions. The patient’s complaint in this type of gingival recession is not bleeding or jamming of food residues. It shows itself mostly with sensitivity to cold and also aesthetically. The patient hesitates to brush the area with withdrawal because the brushes traumatize that area more and cause pain.
In the first type of withdrawals, the patients seek medical advice for their complaints of swelling and bleeding gums, interdental space, and gingival recession. For trauma-related recessions, patients generally seek a periodontology treatment for tooth sensitivity and inability to brush.
How Is Gingival Recession Treated?
To treat gum recession, the expert needs to know why it occurs in the first place. So, the real cause can be treated since the recession is not a disease but a symptom.
- In trauma-induced gingival recessions, since there is no problem in the bone between the teeth, the gums are restored with soft tissue grafts. If there is no bone resorption or gap between the teeth and there is only a half-moon gum recession, subepithelial connective tissue grafts are used. The graft taken from the palate is placed in gingival recession and closed with self-melting stitches.
The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and takes about half an hour. Afterward, the patient can continue his daily life. Consumption of soft foods is sufficient as a precaution. Thanks to the antibiotics and pain medications used, a painless and comfortable healing process are experienced. After healing, the gingiva ultimately returns to its original state.
- If bone loss around the tooth and gum recession is too advanced, it may not be possible to close these gum recessions completely.
For the tooth to remain in the mouth healthily, healthy tight gum is needed. Otherwise, mobile lip tissue may cause a gingival recession to increase to the root tip, resulting in tooth loss. In these cases, free gum grafts are applied.
In the process, the gums are removed from the palate and added to the related area. The goal here is not to close the gum recession, but by replacing the missing gum;
- Blocking the moving tissue in the area,
- Creating a thick and healthy gum and
- Stopping the progress of gingival recession.
It is a procedure that takes about half an hour under local anesthesia. It does not affect daily life, except for food consumption.
In both procedures, the area taken from the palate for the gum is closed with a transparent plaque attached to that area after surgery. In this way, the patient does not feel pain during eating and drinking. The place where the tissue is removed from the palate is restored when healed, and there will be no deformity.
The gingiva formed after gum grafting is now like our own tissue. Unless bad habits are repeated and gingiva treatment is successful, recession does not occur.
Is Gum Recession Treatment Painful?
Since local anesthesia is applied during gum treatment procedures, no pain is felt. There may be temporary tingling as a result of some operations. These pains are the removal of tartar on the root surfaces that occur due to gum recessions.
How Can Gingival Recession Be Prevented?
To prevent it, the cause of gum recession must be found and treated. But in general;
- The paying attention to the formation of tartars,
- Frequently cleaning plaques,
- Not using hard toothbrushes,
- Not brushing teeth with harsh movements,
- Six months of regular dental cleaning,
- and not missing your check-ups should be suitable precaution methods.
When brushing teeth, it is essential to brush soft, circular with small sweeping motions. Not touching the gums during brushing is also harmful to the teeth. It is crucial to brush gently with gentle movements but touching the gums.
For your dental periodontology health treatment to be done correctly, you must visit an expert or an experienced center.