Understanding Gum Recession

For people with periodontal disease, lack of treatment could allow a complication known as gum recession. Without treatment, this could alter the appearance of your smile and even increase the risk of complications, including tooth loss. In today’s blog, Dr. Ann Kania is talking about how we treat gum recession for patients in San Diego/Encinitas, CA.

A Look at Gum Recession

What causes the tissues in the smile to recede? When you develop gingivitis and the inflammation is not reversed, you can suffer from periodontal disease. Again, care is needed to manage the disease otherwise, you could develop a stage known as periodontitis, which leads to adult tooth loss. Along the way, the periodontal tissues could begin to pull back from the teeth, which exposes portions of the roots and allows tooth decay and infection to form. This causes sensitivity as well, and makes teeth appear longer, changing the appearance of your smile. But we can help with a conservative alternative to traditional gum grafts, the Pinhole Surgical Technique.

Common Causes and Other Warning Signs

The factors behind gum recession, and the disease in general, include factors like a diet high in sugar and starch, poor brushing and flossing habits, lack of professional cleanings to remove plaque and tartar from the teeth, and a family history of the disease. Your risk could increase due to inflammatory illnesses like diabetes, or the use of tobacco products. Along with the obvious signs of recession, you could also experience soreness in the periodontal tissues and bleeding. Do not ignore these symptoms, talk to our team about possible solutions, such as the Pinhole Surgical Technique.

Help with Pinhole Gum Grafts

With a traditional gum graft, we could take tissues from other parts of your mouth’s interior, and use these to cover the exposed roots and rebuild the gum line in your smile. With the Pinhole Gum Graft, we instead use layers to make a minuscule hole in the periodontal tissues, and add a special collagen to the interior of the tissues. We then manipulate these tissues until they cover the roots and from a new gum line. To help prevent further recession and the risk of tooth loss, we will discuss a way to manage your disease, such as cleanings every three to four months and better homecare habits too.

If you have any questions about how we take on gum recession with the comfortable and precise Pinhole Surgical Technique, then reach out to our team today to learn more and get started.

Schedule Your Appointment for Better Periodontal Health

Our team wants to help treat the factors behind your receding tissues, boosting the health and beauty of your smile. To learn more about treating receding periodontal tissues, call Dr. Ann Kania in Encinitas, CA, today at 760-642-0711.