Periodontal or gum tissue is a tissue covering and protecting the teeth. While the color varies from person to person, it usually has a rose-like color. Gum recession might be caused by genetic disorders, dental plaques or improperly applied dental bridges. Due to bacterial effects, jaw bones may thin and recede, and then periodontal tissue recedes as well.
The main causes of periodontal recession are dental diseases and dental plaque formation. If not periodically cleaned, dental plaques will keep accumulating in deeper parts. If treated in earlier stages, then there is little risk of gum tissue receding, however, late treatment may result with bone thinning and even teeth loss. Statistics indicate that teeth loss caused by receding periodontal tissue is significantly more than teeth loss due to cavities.
Causes of Gum Recession
- Aging
- Constant teeth grinding and jaw clenching
- misaligned and crooked teeth
- Gum infections
- Surgical wounds
- Proximity of lip and jaw muscles to gum tissue
- Disturbing the periodontal tissue with toothpicks and needles
- Smoking
- Junk food
- Diabetes
- In-mouth lesions
- heart medications, anti-depressants and birth control pills
- hormonal changes occurring due to menopause or pregnancy
- stress are the main causes of receding periodontal tissue
Receding Gum Treatment
Once receded, it is quite hard to bring back the periodontal tissue. The main goal of the treatment here is to prevent any further recession of the tissue. Whatever is causing the recession of the tissue, such as dental plaques are cleaned away from the teeth. The layer produced by bacteria is cleaned away from the tooth surface, which allows the gum tissue to stick back to teeth. The reasons of periodontal recession are various, and any treatment plan must aim to remove these causes, as a preventative treatment. Stopping the recession is the first goal of the treatment, only then treatment can aim for restoring the tissue back to its healthy position.
If the recession of periodontal tissue is in advanced stages, a treatment option is to take healthy soft tissue from somewhere else in the mouth to transfer to the area suffering from recession. This may potentially restore the periodontal tissue back to its healthy appearance. The medical term for receding periodontal tissue is called periodontitis and may result with teeth loss and bone thinning is left untreated.
