Inflamed gums can occur due to various causes. Usually, this gum disease may be accompanied by bad breath or continuous bleeding. This comes with swelling of the gums and this is enough to make you feel the pain and make you uncomfortable throughout the day. When you have an inflamed gum you will not be able to enjoy your meal and the pain will makes chewing and swallowing food very difficult.

In most of the cases, the persons who have inflamed gums don’t know that they are suffering from the swollen gums at all. This condition is called as Gingivitis and this usually leads to many other health issues and hence it is not a condition to be tolerated. When left untreated it is possible for them to get more serious oral and other health conditions and you have to take immediate action to find out the reason for the inflammation and take right treatments to get rid of it. This will prevent the onset of serious forms of tooth diseases like Periodontitis that may lead to total loss of teeth.

Inflamed Gums (Gingivitis) Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

 

Causes of Inflamed Gums

There are many causes of inflamed gums and some of the most important among of them are:

  • Plaque and tartar: this is one of the most common causes of an inflamed gum. This is caused due to the accumulation of bacterial plaque. The white, filmy debris that gets accumulated along the gum lines and on your teeth causes cavities which get infected and spread to the gums making them swollen leading to inflamed gums. This is due to the build up of plaque on the gum lines and entry of it into the gum pockets. This infects the gums from the inside of your tooth. When the plaque gets into an area that cannot be cleaned thoroughly, the body gets into an infection reaction causing inflamed gum. When plaque becomes too hard and gets mixed with calcium this is called as tartar or calculus and this can be only removed by your dentist. Formation of tartar along the gum line also leads to inflamed gum.
  • Irritation of the gum tissue: In the present days, it is common to see the use of many types of toothpaste, food, medications, etc… Most of them have very harsh chemicals as their ingredients, and when you use them these cause irritation and allergic reactions leading to gum swelling and sensitivity. Even the metal dental restorations that you had recently, may also cause irritation of the gums and lead to swelling, making your gum tissues to get inflamed. In these cases, you have to find out that material that is causing the irritation, and stop its usage.
  • Food particles: When you do not clean your teeth after eating food, especially sweets, popcorn, etc… the remnants of these items get stuck under the gums and into the gum pockets and become impossible to clean. Within one or two days these food particles get decomposed due to the action of the bacteria in the mouth, causing infection and the gums become inflamed. This condition gets aggravated when you have wide gaps between the teeth, caused by gum tissue loss, tooth misalignment, or gaps between dental restorations etc.
  • Faulty dental restorations: When you have dental implants with rough edges, this gives place to the build up of plaque and make the gums to swell around these areas. The presence of bacteria along the gumlines after fixing dental crowns also leads to inflamed gums. Likewise, when you wear ill-fitting dentures this rubs the gum tissues and make them sore where bacterial activity leads to inflamed gums.
  • Hormone activity: This is found mostly in women, especially when they are pregnant and due to imbalance of hormone levels, the gums get affected.
  • Misaligned teeth: If the teeth in your mouth are misaligned and become crooked on the tooth line, this drastically affects the health of the gums as it is impossible to clean them regularly. Due to this, infection takes over leading to inflamed gums.
  • Medications: When you have persistent inflammation in your gums, then it is possible that the medicines you are taking for other health conditions like high blood pressure, cause the development of pinkish coral like tissues on the front side of the mouth causing inflammation of your gums.
  • Inflammation due to abscesses: This is also a common cause for inflamed gums, and is caused by tooth decay and resulting infection affecting the dental nerve. This causes swelling of gum near the affected tooth.
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    Gly-Oxide Liquid Antiseptic Oral Cleanser

    Signs and Symptoms of Inflamed Gums

    When you want to find out if you have inflamed gums, you must understand what signs become apparent when there is a swelling in your gums. You must know the original color of the gingival tissue to differentiate between the healthy tissue and the infected one. Some of the most apparent symptoms of inflamed gums are as follows:
    Give an appearance of dark pink, red, blue or purple in color due to the infection.

    The appearance of thickening of tissue as a margin along the teeth.

    Appearance of a black triangle with no papilla or blunted papilla appearing in between the teeth.

    Bleeding along the gum line when you brush or floss your teeth and in severe cases of inflamed-infected gum you can see spontaneous bleeding.

    The swelling along the gum line makes the normal movement of the jaw bone painful and uncomfortable and usually accompanied by continuous severe pain.

    The first symptom of an inflamed gum is the change in coloration followed by swelling, and once you see this, you have to take action to stop the swelling and reverse it completely to avoid further complications.

    How to Treat Inflamed Gums

    Inflammation of the gums is a health condition that should not be ignored. Treatment for your inflamed gums must start at your home and most of the times the symptoms of inflamed gums will go. If the swelling persists and pain continues then you need to see your dentist to find the source of the inflammation and treat it in a more scientific way. Anyhow, taking a good balanced diet and following good oral hygiene are the best ways of beating your inflammation of the gums.
    Some of the simple treatments you can do to get rid of inflamed gums are as follows:

    Brushing your teeth: When you have gingivitis or inflamed gums, you have to brush your teeth at least twice daily, and you have to select the right type of brush and follow the correct brushing technique to achieve best results. When your gums are inflamed you have to use a soft bristled brush and brush with light to medium pressure with your brush at 45 degrees to your teeth. You need to brush for 2 to 4 minutes and this will be the right way to break up and remove plaque before it turns into tartar.

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    Modern technologies: You can also use the latest technology in oral care like blue light to kill the harmful bacteria in your mouth, and this helps you fight against plaque, gingivitis, bad breath and gum pockets. There are many modern oral care gadgets that are good to remove the bacteria and prevent the onset of inflamed gums.

    Flossing: This is a good method to clean your mouth and the gap between the teeth. You have a wider choice of floss like water floss, floss picks, traditional floss or the inter-proximal cleaner. Using this, you can clean under your gums and which is necessary to reduce the inflammation of your gums.

    Topical Rinses: There are many mouth washes that are available in the market that contain essential oils to act on the infection that is causing the inflammation. Select the right one for you and get rid of the inflammation on your gums in an easy way.

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    Inflamed Gums around Wisdom Tooth

    When your wisdom tooth is just emerging out from the gums, the tooth opening is invaded by bacteria that grow there on the food particles that were caught in the gum pockets surrounding this area. The infection caused thus gives swelling around your wisdom tooth and a very painful condition called as Periocoronitis. The inflammation around the wisdom tooth persists for a long time and cannot be cured without curing the infection for which your dentist will give you some antibiotics.

    The inflammation around the wisdom tooth is usually accompanied by unbearable pain and swelling of the gum affects the normal movement of the jaw bones, and due to this the opening of the mouth or chewing food will be very difficult. To avoid this happening to you, you have to rinse your mouth with salt water after every meal and see that no food particles get stuck at the spot of your wisdom tooth. This will greatly reduce the chance of getting infected in the area of the wisdom tooth. If the pain becomes very severe and has spread to the jaw and cheek areas you must go to your dentist immediately.

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    Releev Oral Care Treatment

    Inflamed Gums with Braces

    One of the causes of inflamed gums is the use of ill fitting braces or improper dental restorations. When you are fitting new braces for aligning your teeth your dentist must be very careful in giving the best fitting ones and if they do not fit your teeth and jaws perfectly the ill fitting braces will irritate the gum line and lead to inflamed gums.
    The rough edges of the braces become the abode for bacterial growth and formation of plaque that cannot be cleaned easily. When you are having new dental crowns these also may give place to infection if you fail to clean the upper edges properly.

    Inflamed Gums Home Remedy

    There are many good treatments for inflamed gums and most of them can be used -beside an effective mouthwash- at the comfort of your home. Some of the most powerful home remedies are as follows:

    Pepper mint oil: this is good for reducing the inflammation and cleaning bacterial growth, also improves your bad breath conditions.

    Myrrh: this is a well known antibiotic substance naturally available, and is good for terminating the infection that is causing the inflamed gums. Also, it is good for reducing the pain and stopping the bleeding associated with swelling in your gums.

    Cinnamon: this is one of substances that are used in your kitchen and it is a very powerful agent for clearing of severe gum infection and can easily reduce the inflammation in your gums.

    Lemon: when you rinse your mouth with lemon water, it detoxifies your entire mouth and clears the bacterial growth and also makes your mouth an unfavorable medium for bacterial growth.

    Tea tree: this is a naturally occurring antiseptic that can be used for clearing infections and getting rid of inflamed gums in an easy natural way.

    Eucalyptus: This is a good anti-bacterial that is known to reduce the bacterial growth and is able to prevent the deposit of infectious plaque and tartar in your mouth.

    Rosemary: is an herbal product that increases the blood circulation in your gums and hence improves the gum health in a rapid way.

    Lavender: This is a known herbal way of improving the healing and it also gives immediate relief from pain and swelling associated with your gum diseases.

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    Advanced Oral Hygiene, 60 mint lozenges

    Apart from this, one of the best home remedy for inflamed gums is your diet and it must include sufficient amounts of vitamins, especially vitamin C, and you have to drink more water during the day, take more fresh vegetables and avoid taking too much sugary food. This will help you tone up your immune system and your body can easily fight the infection.

    Thus, if you have inflamed gums it is a painful condition and it may be caused by one of the many reasons stated above. When you have infections in your mouth it can lead to many serious health problems and hence you have to follow the best possible oral hygiene to protect your gums and your teeth from any disease that may affect them.