What is a gingival (gum) recession?
A gingival recession is a retraction of the gum line with a denudation of the tooth root. The recession can occur on the outside of the dentition or around the entire tooth in periodontitis and after its treatment.
What is gingival recession and how common is it?
A gingival recession is a retraction of the gums with a visible denudation of the tooth root. More than 50 per cent of the population reveal one or more teeth with gingival recession.
Gingival recession can be the result of many influencing factors. People with thinner gums are generally more susceptible. Furthermore, a number of behavioural factors play a decisive role. For example, frequent scrubbing with a toothbrush or wearing piercings leads to injuries that can cause the gum line to shrink as they heal.
Other causes are such orthodontic treatments that shift the teeth outwards. This can cause the outer anchorage of the teeth to dissolve and the overlying gums to thin. Similarly, smoking and snus consumption are key influencing factors, as tobacco use reduces the resistance of the gums.
The incidence of gingival recession increases with age. More than 50 per cent of the adult population reveals gingival recession.
How is the tooth anchored in the jawbone?
Each tooth consists of a crown, a root and a nerve. The tooth is attached to its root surface with anchoring fibres in the gum and jawbone.
The crown of the tooth is covered by enamel. Underneath this is the dentin and underneath this is the nerve of the tooth (pulp). Strictly speaking, the pulp consists of the nerve, the blood vessels and a so-called connective tissue. While enamel The surface of the tooth root is therefore also sensitive to pain.
The dentin makes up the main component of the root. The root is also covered by a hard layer called the root membrane (root cementum). The tooth is attached to the jawbone along its entire root surface with anchoring fibres (desmodontal fibres). These fibres are anchored in the root dentin on the one hand and in the jawbone on the other.
The tooth root is longer than the tooth crown. In particular, the canines in the upper jaw (fangs) usually have very long roots.
Gum recession in periodontitis
Gum recession can have different causes and can often occur on the outside of the dentition or around the entire tooth if periodontitis is present and after its treatment.
Gingival recession is basically the recession of the gums on the outside of the dentition. Affected people do not suffer from additional periodontitis in such cases.
However, periodontitis in an advanced stage can also lead to recession of the gum line. Only an examination in the dentist’s office can clarify the cause of the receding gums.
In addition, gingival (gum) recession is observed after the treatment of periodontitis. In such cases, however, this is desirable because the shrinkage of the gum line can reduce the undesirable gum pockets.
What is periodontitis and how common is it?
Periodontitis is one of the most common chronic diseases in humans. It is an inflammatory disease that affects all parts of the tooth anchorage.
As a result of the inflammation of the gum line (gingivitis), the anchoring fibres and the jaw bone can break down. In place of the healthy fibrous apparatus, a so-called gingival pocket develops along the tooth. The root surface there is covered with bacterial plaque and tartar.
The degradation of the anchoring fibres and the jaw bone can lead to increased tooth mobility. If the disease remains undetected and untreated, the degradation can continue to the point where the teeth become unusable in their function for chewing and have to be extracted (extracted).
About 40 percent of the human population suffers from periodontitis. For the adult population, it is estimated that about 70% of tooth loss today is due to periodontitis.
Learn more about the causes, consequences, diagnosis, therapy and prevention of periodontitis at: www.periodontal-health.com.
Further information
You can use our information and illustrations for your own productions. Please take into account the terms of the Creative Commons Licence:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.de
The contents of this website are cited with the following reference:
www.gingival-recession.com / CC-BY-NC-SA