What You Can Do About Receding Gums

Teeth are vital to eating and speech; chewing food breaks everything down as it travels down your digestive tract, and proper pronunciation requires teeth working with your tongue and lips for clarity. And for any of that to happen, once they grow out of your jaws in childhood, they need to stay in place. That happens because of your gingivae, otherwise known as gums.

Gum care is as essential to your oral health as everything else you do to protect your mouth. Not taking good care of them can lead to gum disease, which can cause problems like receding gums. If you start noticing signs of this problem, here’s what to do next.

The team at Nusblatt Dental, headed by Dr. Adam Nusblatt, is here to help East Village, Manhattan, New York, residents keep their gums as healthy as possible with practical advice and treatment options to suit their needs.

Why do gums recede?

Gum recession occurs when your gums pull away from one or more teeth, exposing more of the tooth root and increasing the risk of other problems, such as cavities and tooth sensitivity. While it’s commonly a sign of gum disease, several factors affect whether or not you’ll deal with this issue, including:

Tobacco use

If you smoke or chew tobacco, you’re increasing the chances of many problems, including receding gums.

Brushing too hard

Brushing is certainly essential for good dental health, but doing it too aggressively can damage both teeth and gums.

Tartar build-up 

Over time, plaque hardens into tartar. This can lead to cavities and can also affect gum tissue; the long-term damage also leads to recession of the tissue.

Gum trauma

Impact injuries and other accidents that damage the mouth can lead to receding gums.

Lip or tongue piercings 

Any piercing in this area that potentially pulls away tissue can lead to this problem.

Gum recession happens more frequently as you age, and an estimated 88% of people over 65 have at least some problems with this issue.

Can the problem be reversed?

While tissue in other areas of the body can grow back (like the epithelial cells in your skin), this is not true of your gums. Regardless of the cause of your gums receding, when it happens, the results are lasting, and the goal of treatment then becomes preventing further recession and avoiding any further negative impact on your dental health.

How is it treated?

You can use several options to manage the symptoms associated with receding gums, with home remedies like saltwater rinses, drinking green tea, daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids, and several essential oils showing some evidence of helping.

Since most causes lead to inflammation, infection, or both in your gums, we treat the issues in-office with scaling and root planing. This removes tartar and cleanses the tissue of the issues that cause the problem, and, along with steps to improve dental health at home, will keep things from getting worse.

Caring for your gums is vital to overall dental health, so if you have problems with receding gums, contact Dr. Nusblatt and Nusblatt Dental today to get treatment you need to preserve them.