concept of gum recession

What Causes Gum Recession?

Knowing what causes gum recession allows you to take the right steps to prevent it. For many patients, it can be a slippery slope. The early signs are easy to miss, and as it progresses, treating it becomes increasingly complex. Techniques do exist to address this condition, though. For example, the pinhole surgical technique for gum recession can stably repair damaged gums.

What Causes Gum Recession?

The list of what prevents receding gums is much shorter than what causes it. While some of these factors are beyond your control, many others put you in charge of your own oral health. Based on these causes, you can evaluate your situation and get an idea of what risk factors are present in your life.

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Featured image for What To Do If a Dental Implant Fails

What To Do If A Dental Implant Fails

Dental implant procedures are highly successful and have a positive completion rate of approximately 98 percent. However, dental implant failure can still happen due to various factors. But what should you do if a dental implant fails? In this article, we will discuss how a periodontal dentist can help in this situation.

What To Do If A Dental Implant Fails

The first thing you should do when a dental implant fails is to make an appointment with your dental implant specialist or with a periodontal dentist. In some cases, it is possible to repair a broken implant, but in others, it might be necessary to remove the old metal post and replace it with a new one. Whether a failed implant can be restored will depend on the cause of failure and the condition of your oral health—particularly the gum tissue and the jaw bone.

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Close up of many multiethnic smiles as the featured image for How Does Gum Color Reflect Oral Health

How Does Gum Color Reflect Oral Health?

Healthy gums provide secure support for the teeth and keep them in place. Changes in the way your gums look might indicate health issues that require periodontal care. In this article, we answer the question: how does gum color reflect oral health? 

How Does Gum Color Reflect Oral Health?

The color of healthy gums might vary from person to person. In general, gums should appear pink in color or slightly darker for people with darker skin tones. The color may become paler closer to the gum line. 

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Young woman showing healthy gums to represent reasons to visit a periodontal specialist.

9 Reasons To Visit A Periodontal Specialist

Periodontal care is a branch of dentistry that focuses on the prevention and treatment of periodontitis (gum disease), a chronic infection that affects the gums and jawbone. Below, we discuss nine reasons to visit a periodontal specialist. 

9 Reasons To Visit A Periodontal Specialist

Receding Gums

Gums that “pull away” from your teeth, exposing more of their surfaces, are called receding gums. Receding gums can jeopardize the health of your teeth because the top part of their roots becomes exposed to bacteria, acid, and plaque buildup. Roots are more vulnerable to these risk factors because they are not covered with enamel like the rest of the tooth but by a softer material called cementum. Thus, cavities and tooth decay appear faster on the exposed roots than on the crowns of the teeth.

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