Receding Gums – The Facts
Unsightly gum line? What can you do?
Here at Abbey Road Dental, we love teeth and we love helping our lovely customers look after them properly.
However, the unsung heros of the mouth – the gums – are just as important as the teeth and we love them just as much.
Gums have such an important job to do, which is mainly keeping the extremely sensitive roots of our teeth protected. Unfortunately our genes, our actions or other factors can stop them from doing that important job properly. Neglecting your oral health can cause the gums to recede and expose the root. Your genes can also cause this to happen. When the gums pull back in this way, the condition is called receding gums and it’s something we look out for when performing a health check here at our NW8 dental clinic.
We recommend you look for the symptoms of receding gums in between visits to us so you can seek diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible. Of course, we also recommend doing everything you can to avoid your gums receding at all.
For a lot of people, their gums may recede over a long period of time and they might not notice that it is happening. For this reason it is important to be aware of other potential symptoms of the condition, like sensitivity to hot and cold. Receding gums need to be diagnosed quickly as they can form pockets which provide the perfect habitat for bacteria to thrive. If they aren’t treated the tissue surrounding the teeth, the roots and the bone can all be badly damaged, eventually leading to tooth loss.
What Causes Receding Gums?
There are lots of potential causes of receding gums, including:
● Poor oral health which causes gum disease. Early gum disease causes the gums to bleed and swell. More advanced gum disease causes the gums to recede and pockets of bacteria to form, which is when the teeth and surrounding areas start to suffer real damage.
● Excessive and aggressive brushing of the teeth.
● Hormone changes.
● Your genes leading you to have a genetic predisposition to receding gums.
● Smoking.
● Bruxism (teeth grinding).
● Crooked teeth.
● A misaligned bite.
● Oral piercings.
Treatment Options
The best thing you can do if you spot any signs of receding gums is to make an appointment at our dentist in St John’s Wood. The sooner you treat receding gums, the more chance you have of avoiding long term health issues caused by them. Just some of the potential treatments for receding gums are:
● Scaling and root planing
● Pocket depth reduction
● Gum and bone regeneration
● Tissue grafts
● Gum disease treatment
The treatment right for you is individual and completely tailored to your preferences and the options available to you depending on your medical needs.
Visit Us At Abbey Road Dental In St Johns Wood
If you’re due a check up or have symptoms of receding gums, please give us a call on 02076241603 and we will be very pleased to book you in for an appointment.
