There’s a lot that you do with your mouth every second of the day; you lick your lips, slide your tongue over your teeth, and remove tiny food particles stuck between them hours after you’ve had your meal. Your mouth’s always up to something. However, you realize that when it’s in pain and even the slightest action ends up causing you deep agony. You may experience tooth pain, tongue pain, or gum pain. Here, we’ll talk about gum pain causes.
Gum pain is a common problem experienced by many people. Aggressively brushing and flossing your teeth can cause gum pain. However, so can hormonal changes, tobacco, gum disease, vitamin deficiency, tooth abscess, canker sores, oral cancer, burn, and food allergy. Knowing the gum pain causes is important as it can help you in seeking the right treatment for it.
What Causes Gum Pain?
There are many reasons for painful gums, a common one being brushing and/or flossing your teeth too aggressively. It can cause irreparable damage to your gums. Painful gums can also be a result of bleeding and swelling the gums.
Your gum health is important because not only do they provide protection against bacteria but also provide support to the teeth. There are some problems that won’t cause gum pain right from the start. Therefore, you need to keep an eye out for those. Underlying health problems can result in gum pain. Now, let’s take a look at all the gum pain causes.
Improper Brushing & Flossing Techniques
Don’t go overboard with brushing or flossing your teeth. You must do these two things, but the way you do them is also important. It is one of the most common gum pain causes.
Brushing and/or flossing teeth too aggressively can make your gums bleed and even make them recede permanently. Besides, if you’re brushing your teeth too hard, it can also erode your enamel causing tooth cavities. This can also cause tooth sensitivity.
What Should You Do?
To avoid gum pain, make sure that you perform your oral health ritual with a soft-bristled toothbrush. It is also important that you brush your teeth gently while holding the brush at a 45-degree angle. Brushing and flossing should not be avoided just because the poor technique is causing you bleeding gums or pain. Also, make sure you brush your teeth twice a day.
Gum Disease
Gum disease is another of the gum pain causes. It can cause:
- swelling
- bleeding
- redness
- pain
It commonly occurs as a result of poor oral health. Not brushing and flossing enough or properly can cause it. In the case of gum disease, if you don’t start taking proper care of your oral health, it will worsen with time. It can cause gingivitis, which can lead to periodontitis.
Poor oral hygiene can cause serious gum problems, which begin with the formation of plaque that can damage the tooth enamel and cause gum inflammation. Your dentist or dental hygienist needs to remove the plaque so that it doesn’t end up causing more serious gum infection.
Gingivitis occurs due to poor oral hygiene. It’s important that you get treatment for gingivitis because if you do not, it may progress to periodontitis; however, that’s not always the case. Gingivitis can cause gum recession, tooth loss, and damage to the bone supporting your teeth. This gum disease can also cause bleeding gums, along with difficulty in chewing and bad breath. It is important that you do all you can to prevent periodontal disease of the teeth and gums.
What Should You Do?
Get the plaque removed for timely intervention against the spread of the infection in your mouth. It will stop the progression of gum disease to a more serious infection. Moreover, take good care of your teeth to protect them from gum disease.
Canker Sores
One of the gum pain causes is canker sores. Also known as mouth ulcers, these are yellowish to white in appearance, surrounded by a red outer ring. These can develop after an injury to the mouth, even from accidentally brushing over the gums. The exact cause of their development is not known; however, viral or bacterial infection may be to blame.
Canker sores can also develop as a result of autoimmune disorders and nutritional deficiencies, among other reasons. They can also cause pain in your gums.
What Should You Do If You Have Canker Sores?
They usually go away on their own after no more than 2 weeks. If you have a canker sore for more than three weeks, it’s important that you see your dentist. Medical advice, diagnosis, and treatment are important in this case for the health of your teeth and gums. It can be a sign of oral cancer.
Tooth Abscess
Bacterial infection can result in the formation of a pocket of pus around or at the tip of the root of the tooth. A tooth abscess can cause intense throbbing pain and increase sensitivity to pressure. The pain can radiate to that side of the face where the tooth is infected. It can also cause redness, swelling, fever, bad breath, and difficulty in breathing and swallowing. The swelling is one of the gum pain causes.
What Should You Do If You Have Tooth Abscess?
There are different treatments for it. Your gums may need to be cut to drain the abscess; the dentist may perform a root canal or extract the infected tooth; you may also need to take antibiotics.
Allergic Reaction
Allergic reaction to food or dental hygiene products is another one of the gum pain causes. It can make your gum sore, swollen, and itchy. Certain products in toothpaste and mouthwash can trigger an allergic reaction. This can cause gum pain.
What Should You Do If You Have Tooth Allergic Reaction?
You may experience gum pain from allergies due to dental hygiene products right after using them. If you have a known allergy to any ingredient, make sure you read the product ingredients before purchase. Start by removing one product at a time from your hygiene routine to find out the allergen. Besides, you may consult an allergist in order to determine which food is causing you allergies. If you think you know the food that’s triggering an allergic reaction, avoid eating it for at least a month and see if it can help prevent it.
Hormonal Changes
This kind of gum pain affects women at different stages in their life. Due to increased blood flow to the gums during puberty, your gums may feel painful, swollen, and tender. During your period, you might have swollen gums and bleeding gums. Gums can also become swollen and sore while a woman’s pregnant. Menopause can also cause gum pain, bleeding, and soreness.
What Should You Do?
If you’re experiencing gum pain in any of these phases in your life, you should see your dentist and doctor. You may be prescribed vitamins to strengthen your body and immune system so that you can get rid of gum pain. Taking your vitamins through diet or supplements is important. Vitamin C deficiency can cause scurvy which can cause swollen and bleeding gums, along with gum disease, weakness, irritability, and skin problems.
Tobacco
Tobacco alone can cause you a lot of harm. Smoking cigarettes or chewing tobacco can cause gum disease. It increases susceptibility to gum infection and can delay wound healing by decreasing blood flow. It can also cause gum recession, tooth and bone loss, and cause oral cancer.
What You Should Do If You Use Tobacco?
In order to prevent the development of gum disease due to tobacco use, you need to stop using it. You can also consult your doctor about how to get rid of your nicotine cravings.
Oral Cancer
You may develop a persistent mouth ulcer on your gums, inside of the cheeks, tongue, or tonsils in the case of oral cancer. It can cause gum pain.
What You Should Do If You Suspect Oral Cancer?
Keep an eye out on the mouth ulcers and see if they don’t heal after 2 weeks. Make sure that you visit your dentist to get it checked. Treatment for oral cancer includes chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgical removal of the tumour.
When Do You Need to Seek Immediate Professional Help?
Depending on the reason for gum pain, the symptoms can vary. You may experience bleeding, swelling, sensitivity, nausea, weakness, bad breath, gum recession, and swollen lymph nodes, among other symptoms. If you have difficulty breathing or swallowing, high fever, or lose your teeth, you need to immediately visit your dentist.
Is There A Way To Prevent Gum Pain?
If an underlying health condition is causing gum pain, it’s important that you seek treatment for it. However, in order to prevent gum pain from common causes, you should begin by taking care of your oral hygiene.
Do not underestimate the power of something as simple as brushing your teeth properly at least twice a day and flossing once. Also, make sure to include mouthwash in your oral hygiene routine. Other than that, visit your dentist regularly after every 6 months for a complete checkup.
Conclusion
Gum health issues are painful to deal with. If you’re suffering from them, you need to get treatment. You can also prevent them from developing by improving your oral hygiene. If you’re experiencing gum pain, get in touch with our experts through a free consult. They will guide you about the causes of your gum pain and the treatment course for it.