Healthy Gums do not Bleed

 

When I was a teenager, my father arranged for me to observe dentists in several dental offices, in order to convince me that dentistry was not what I wanted to do for my livelihood.  My parents’ plan backfired.  I loved what I saw, and knew in my heart that I would be a good dentist. Some of what I heard, however, did not sit well with me.  One dentist, in response to his patient’s concern about her bleeding gums, stated “everybody’s gums bleed.” NO! Everybody’s gums do not bleed, and they should not bleed.

If your hands bled when you washed them, you would be concerned.  You should also be concerned if you clean your teeth and your gums bleed.  Bleeding gums are sick gums. 

Healthy gums are light pink in color, are flat to the tooth surface, come to a neat point between the teeth, and are stippled like an orange peel.  Sick gums are more red in color, especially around the necks of the teeth, they are rolled like a bagel near the tooth surface, the triangular areas between the teeth are bulbous (they puff out) and the surface is shiny. The first stage of gum disease is gingivitis, the inflammation in the gums that creates the red appearance, that allows the gum tissue to flop in the breeze, and which bleeds when you brush, floss, or touch it. The more you avoid touching it, the more the bacteria build up, the more the tissue reacts to the toxins from the bacteria, the worse the inflammation gets.  You can only break the cycle by brushing and flossing (or brushing and irrigating with a water-pik.)  If your gums are bleeding they are saying, “Help, I’m sick. Please clean me.” If you continue to neglect your gums, the disease process will progress to periodontitis.  Now the whole attachment around the teeth is inflamed, and the bone that holds the teeth in your mouth starts to go away so that the necks of the teeth start to stick out of the gums. Over time the teeth also get loose, and some will fall out.  Gum disease is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults.

If you move teeth orthodontically, or with mouth habits like leaning your tongue on your teeth or sucking your thumb, and your teeth are not clean, you are at risk of accelerating the damage caused by gum disease.  For information on how to clean your teeth, watch our hygiene videos on-line at https://www.okunortho.com/brushing-and-flossing