Since we are talking dental health, any insights into gingival recession? I think my gums have receded due to brushing them too hard over the years. You can’t tell unless you flip my gums back.
Oh boy that’s another beast I am trying to slay. All I keep hearing is that once gums start receding there’s no regenerating it, only stopping it from getting worse and I just have a hard time buying such a simple explanation. It could be hubris talking, I can’t really tell you one way or the other.
Uneducated Speculation:
My theory is that the gums can regenerate and regain attachment loss but only in the right conditions -> in practice that would mean that they are not inflamed, and clean underneath the gum line (you can do that by flossing and getting a deep cleaning at a dentist if you need one), as well as doing your best to eliminate harmful bacteria that turn into calculus, and having a healthy diet.
The trickiest part is probably selectively eliminating the bad bacteria while retaining the good ones The mouth is full of both and mouthwashes like Listarine, or any Alcohol based ones are sledgehammers. Some washes are too harsh on the tissue itself too which I imagine impairs healing of any kind.
Xylitol does selectively inhibit some bad strains, and some oral probiotics (K2 BLIS, L. Sakei, B. Subtilis) are quite aggressive in killing off other species.
Might also be worth looking into all the substrates required for bone and connective tissue building, apart from the obvious (calcium, magnesium), e.g. silica, iron and copper.
Research swishing Gastric Pentadecapeptide (BPC 157) around your mouth and through your teeth daily. Rsearch sems to support that it does seem to halt and sometimes reverse gingival recession.
Have the same. I changed the way I brush. I used to push hard into the gum line.
Now what I do is more like sweeping; I use a regular toothbrush, and pull it over my teeth and gums at an angle to increase the sweeping area. This cleans much more of my month, so it’s less acidic, and this just feels better than what I was doing before. I also floss to break up biofilms in the gumline. Gums much happier.
If you have black triangles from gum recession, then I highly recommend TePe interdental brushes (or some other brand).
Neither a toothbrush nor floss is going to clear those areas effectively, and I noticed an immediate improvement in my gum inflammation levels when I started using them.
