Gum disease has become a major issue of concern these days. An unhealthy gum condition paves way for complex dental problems. While cavities and tooth disease have basic treatments, gum disease can be tricky and difficult to cure at times. With the advancement in technology, there are various new techniques to treat different gum diseases. One such common gum problem that people are facing these days is gum recession. In this condition, the gums start to ebb from the tooth margin creating an increased exposure of the tooth surface. The gum starts to loosen its grip over the tooth and form spaces in between causing bacteria and cavities to grow. If this condition is not given proper medical attention, it might increase over time and result in tooth loss. Other issues such as bacterial infection and cavities will continue to grow and keep affecting the adjoining tooth.
Reasons for gum recession
Before we delve into the methods of treating gum recession such as pinhole gum surgery, let’s take a brief look at the reasons why gum recession might occur.
- Genetic- Despite taking well care of your oral health, you might suffer from gum recession. This can be because of your genes and the formation of your body. Your gums might be weak and have pre-developed gum issues.
- Poor dental care and eating habits- Gum recession can occur due to poor upkeep of your oral health. Prolonged negligence in terms of hygiene can lead to serious gum diseases. Consuming excessive sugar items and tobacco can also cause gum recession.
- Brushing habits- Another major reason for gum recession is harsh brushing habits that damage the gum areas making it shrink and loosen grip over the tooth.
- Gum disease- Due to various gum-related diseases, gum recession happens. When the gum areas are infected by bacteria, the gum condition deteriorates and as a result, they pull away from the tooth lining.
Treatment of gum recession
Since gum recession is a very common dental condition and has been there over the past, there are different ways to treat them. They are traditionally treated by using scaling and grafting processes. Another effective and time-saving treatment for gum recession is pinhole gum surgery. This is a quick and less pain-giving treatment as compared to other methods. This is a non-intrusive procedure that requires no painful stitches. It is an advanced treatment that gives healing results in no time.
In this treatment process, the dentist creates a pinhole in the gum area using a thin instrument. Thereafter, a device is inserted through this hole into the gums to relocate the gum position and cover the appropriate surface of the tooth. Once the positioning is done, by using another device collagen strips are put in the gum areas to ensure zero movements of the tissues until it fixes permanently.
This process involves no cutting or scaling of gum tissues that are painful. Before starting the treatment, thorough cleaning of the mouth is performed and local anesthesia is given to make it absolutely pain-free. Also, this treatment does not require repetitive treatment sessions. A single session is sufficient to treat the entire gum recession issue. More than one tooth can be treated at the same time.
Advantages
There are many benefits of choosing pinhole gum surgery over any other method of treating gum recession. Some of them are discussed below.
- Time and money-saving
This treatment is fast and effective. There is no requirement of multiple sessions to treat different locations of the mouth. Patients can have a single appointment and have the entire areas of gum recession treated. This saves a lot of time and money at the same time. You do not need to spend extra money for every session with your dentist.
- Fast recovery process
Since there are no stitches and scaling done, the healing process is really fast and efficient. The entire process is done by using modern equipment and hence the repositioning of the gum tissue is accurate and effective. You can carry out your daily activities right the day after the treatment. No extra medical attention is required once the treatment is over.
- No pain and swelling
In most of the traditional treatments of gum recession, patients do suffer pain and swelling in the initial days. It is because of the stitches and grafting performed on soft gum tissues. They also give an unusual appearance to the face right after the session. This takes a few days to get back to normal. In the case of pinhole gum surgery, there is no swelling in the gum areas during or after the treatment. Also, it is completely pain-free.