Dr. Nammy Patel from San Francisco Green Dentistry discusses the causes of gum recession, including over brushing and excessive force.
Okay, so let’s talk about gums. Why do gums recede, and how do we lose gum tissue?
Dr. Nammy Patel: So gums actually recede…the majority of the time it’s actually from over brushing, so using too much excessive force. So if this is gums, we need to be very gentle with it. If you brush them too hard, you’re going to end up losing gum tissue. That’s the number one reason. The second is clenching and grinding. If we’re clenching and grinding really hard, it puts a lot of pressure on the gum tissue and then the gum tissue actually ends up receding. The third reason is when the teeth are out of alignment. So if you have teeth that are straight, it’s easy to brush them. But if you have one that’s sticking out, you’re going to end up brushing that more. So you’re going to end up with gum recession.
