Receding gums are one of the most common problems in dental health, which has to be treated adequately, not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for the really bad problems it can cause.
Between the main causes of receding gums, periodontal illness can be highlighted such as chronic periodontitis, or bad habits like aggressive tooth brushing. However, periodontal illness is the first cause of receding gums, and we can divide it in two kinds, depending on the state of the illness.
Gingivitis: it consists of the inflammation of the gum around the tooth, because of the food residue accumulation or dental plaque between the teeth, due to bad hygiene, this plaque is made by bacteria and calcareous deposits which are being accumulated forming what we known commonly as dental tartar.
This bacteria gather together to form dental calculus, which can only be eliminated by a professional during a dental cleaning or profilaxis. With the pass of time, this condition makes the gums weaken and become more propense to suffer from bone lose or bleeding, which causes the receding of the gums.
Gingivitis is a pretty popular illness between adults, affecting more than the 91% of the population, and the principal symptom is bleeding at the time of the toothbrushing, a healthy gum shouldn’t bleed through this process, it is noteworthy that in smokers this sign can be masked and the bleeding is less possible even when they suffer from the illness, that’s why we recommend to the people to go to regular inspections with a periodontist (a dentist specialized in periodontal diseases and dental implants).
Periodontitis: also known as pyorrhea, it starts with a non treated gingivitis. The dental plaque its accumulated around the teeth and gum forming what we call a periodontal bag and penetrating every time more till reach the tooth’s root. Destroying with the pass of the time the bone and all the conjunctive tissue that surrounds the tooth, so they get loose gaining more mobility and producing dental loss in extreme cases.
Brushing your teeth aggressively and with hard toothbrushes can also provoke the destruction of the tissue that forms the gum and with that a gingival recession. In these cases usually the placing of a graft in the gum is indicated to recover the root or roots affected, after the grafting procedure the look of the gum has to be normal.
The movement of the tooth doesn’t produce any gingival recession, but if the teeth are taken out of the bone table, it can be a factor that will predispose the teeth for further trauma, the accumulation of dental tartar or strong toothbrushing are aspects that can contribute to produce dental recession in the end.
