Tuesday, November 3, 2015

What Is Gum Recession and Why You Should Treat It Quickly

Gum Recession
We can treat your gum recession and restore your gum health in the process. If you want healthy and beautiful-looking gums, it is important to take care of them. You can do so using ongoing, preventative care and having your teeth cleaned twice a year. This will help to prevent plaque from building up on your teeth, becoming trapped, and causing gum disease. However, if you go for too long in between teeth cleanings or do not practice good oral hygiene at home, you can fall victim to periodontal disease and gum recession.

What is gum recession?
When your gum tissue begins to pull away from your tooth structure, you have gum recession. It looks like your gums are shrinking or becoming smaller, and as a result, your teeth will look longer.

What causes gum recession?
Plaque and tartar building up under your gums will start to cause irritation. If the plaque is not removed, you can suffer from gum disease and your gums may begin to recede.

How is it treated?
We will start by removing any plaque and tartar from your teeth and on, under, and around your gums. This is the first step in making sure that anything irritating your gums is eliminated. If you have an infection of any kind, you may also need a treatment of antibiotics. Once this is done, we can begin to address the actual recession and start to secure your gums around your teeth.
We can restore the position of your gums using a gum grafting procedure. In this scenario, you are given anesthesia before the tissue is removed from the roof of your mouth and sutured to your gums. The procedure is effective but also invasive and does require a recovery time where you will want to be home and away from work. For this reason, many people do not have time to schedule this procedure to truly restore their gum health.

Fortunately, we have a non-invasive alternative. We use the Chao Pinhole Surgical Technique™ to restore gums to full health. This is a far more comfortable procedure for you, our patient. It is a scalpel- and suture-free procedure, which means we do not need to cut into your gums or your mouth and we do not need to suture or stitch your gums back together. Instead, we are using innovative methods to stimulate gum growth and position the gums back around the teeth. By creating small pinholes with a needle, we can get into the tissue to stimulate and position the gums without actually cutting them. Since the procedure itself is non-invasive, your gums will not swell or bleed like they would with a surgical gum grafting procedure. While there may be slight discomfort for a day or two, it will go away quickly and can easily be controlled using an ice pack and ibuprofen. We have found that our patients appreciate how convenient the procedure and the recovery process is by comparison.
To learn more about the treatments we offer for gum recession, call and schedule an appointment for a consultation.



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