Receding gums are a painful dental condition that can seriously affect your oral health, overall comfort level when wearing partial dentures, and overall bodily health. But what are receding gums? How are they caused, and what do they mean for your dentures?
What Are Receding Gums?
Receding gums, also called “gum recession”, is the process by which gums – both upper and lower – recede over time, leaving more of one’s teeth exposed and creating ‘pockets’ between one’s tooth and the gum line where bacteria and disease can form.
This recession can be expedited by eating foods that are harmful to your teeth – such as too much-refined sugar and acidic beverages. Gum recession is also caused by hormones and genetics and can be caused by crooked teeth or a misaligned bite.
Some gum recession is a natural part of living and is unavoidable – this is why it mostly goes unnoticed. However, if you wear complete or partial dentures, gum recession can affect you in other ways.
How Does Gum Recession Affect Your Oral Health?
One of the main causes of gum recession is simply living your life normally – it’s an unavoidable part of being human. However, untreated gum recession can lead to you losing teeth, which can lead to you needing complete or partial dentures. You’ll need to consult with your local denture clinic to see if your gum recession can be aided via dentures.
The best way to treat gum recession is to be proactive and preventative in your oral care – brush your teeth regularly (twice a day), floss regularly, and make frequent trips to your dentist!
How Can Dentures Help With Receding Gums
One of the most common treatments for receding gums is partial dentures. You will likely need to consult with a denture clinic, particularly if dentures have been suggested to you as a potential option following severe gum recession.
The severity of your gum recession could lead to you losing teeth, which is where dentures can come into play. Depending on the number of teeth lost, you may require a number of dentures, which can increase your denture cost. However, this is likely your best option to aid with the aftermath of the damage done by receding gums.
How Receding Gums Can Affect Dentures
If you have partial dentures already, and are experiencing problems with them, you may need to visit your local denture clinic as soon as possible to see what the problem is. If they find that your receding gums are causing your partial dentures to come loose, they may either tighten your dentures, or have to perform denture repair to re-align them.
Partial dentures are fixed to your gums using metallic extensions called clasps, these attach on your gumline and are aided by supporting teeth that provide additional retention. When it comes to the cost of dentures, partial dentures tend to be a more cost-effective method – rather than replacing the lost teeth with implants.
Despite having fitted dentures – whether partial or complete – receding gums are still a possibility – and they often cause your dentures to become loose or not fit properly anymore as the tissue that would normally support the dentures recedes. Unfortunately, this may mean another visit to your local denture clinic to have your dentures re-aligned or even re-measured and re-fit. This can significantly drive up your denture cost.
How Aesthetic Dental & Denture Clinic Can Help
If you’re having pain in your gums, or extra gum sensitivity, then you may have receding gums and need treatment to help repair them – particularly if this sensation is around the top of your teeth. It could mean that your roots are being damaged, which can lead to tooth loss.
If you’ve already been diagnosed with receding gums and your dentist has suggested dentures as a method of treatment, here’s where Aesthetic Dental & Denture Clinic comes in. We can tailor some dentures that will help abate the symptoms of gum recession. Similarly, we can also fit you with immediate dentures, if your tooth decay is so severe that they require immediate extraction.
Aesthetic Dental & Denture Clinic can also perform denture repair, if your gum recession has caused pre-existing dentures.
Contact Aesthetic Dental & Denture Clinic today to see how we can help you with dentures – whether partial or complete and help make your oral health the best it can be.
