What causes receding gums and how do we treat them?
Our team understand that when you have a dental emergency, you can’t wait for an appointment to become available. Whether you’re in pain, suffering from a broken tooth, or find yourself unable to eat properly, getting a fast and effective solution is the most important thing we can give you. That’s why our emergency dental services are available for all our patients to access within 48 hours, to minimise long term discomfort, and to ensure that urgent conditions do not develop into something more serious.
Some of the core emergency dental services we offer and ailments we treat include:
- Gum disease
- Dental trauma
- Accumulation of plaque at the gum line
- Poor oral hygiene
- Excessive pressure resulting from grinding or clenching your teeth
- Aggressive brushing
Another common cause of receding gums, which is often misunderstood by patients, is imbalanced occlusion. This refers to the way your teeth fit together when you bite down and can become imbalanced due to genetics or the natural fit of your teeth, crooked fillings or crowns which do not properly balance your bite, or the gradual grinding of your teeth which wears away the top layer of enamel.
Here at Bluebell Dentistry & Aesthetics, our gum recession treatment in Essex starts with us working to identify the cause of your receding gums. We will then determine a course of treatment which will ease the symptoms, fix the root cause of the problem, and fix your smile.
Let’s take a closer look at the symptoms of receding gums and how the different treatment options work.
The symptoms of receding gums
When the occlusion (the way teeth come together) is imbalanced, excessive forces placed on the teeth cause trauma to the bone and gums. Similarly, when you are living with gum disease, if you clench or grind your teeth regularly, or you do not practice proper oral hygiene, the gumline which protects your teeth wears away – causing what we recognise as gum recession.
The primary symptom of a receding gumline is exposure of your teeth’s roots – causing teeth to become sensitive to hot, cold, sweet, and salty substances. This can cause extreme discomfort when you eat or drink. Another common symptom that many clients recognise is one or more teeth looking longer than the others – indicating that more of the tooth is exposed due to a recession in the gumline.
Treatment of receding gums
Here at Bluebell Dentistry & Aesthetics, we offer a selection of different treatments depending on the severity of gum recession and the placement of the gumline. Treatment will also depend on the cause of your receding gums, to ensure that we treat the root problem rather than simply providing a short term solution to the symptoms.
Fillings and crowns that do not meet properly can be corrected by our expert team of dentists and grinding and clenching of teeth can be prevented by prescribing a tooth guard for the client to wear (usually overnight when grinding and clenching are at their worst).
Another treatment we offer is a prescribed agent which will help to desensitise the teeth. Most of these agents are available in solution form and are applied to the sensitive area with a cotton swab to ease the most painful symptoms.
Book a consultation
To get started on your journey to the picture-perfect Hollywood smile, get in touch with our team here at Bluebell Dentistry & Aesthetics and book yourself in for a complete consultation with one of our specialist cosmetic dentists.