How to Keep Healthy Gums With an Easy Daily Routine Guide

Having healthy gums will provide you with a strong and beautiful smile. They help cushion your teeth, hold them securely within your jaw bone and create a firm seal preventing harmful bacteria from entering your mouth. Many people often forget about keeping their gums healthy and instead focus solely on keeping their teeth white. If left untreated, plaque bacteria build up along the gum line causing irritation and inflammation. This leads to bleeding and receding gums. If left untreated early gum disease (gingivitis) can progress to serious periodontitis. This destroys the bone supporting your teeth and affects your overall health.

Medical professionals have linked periodontitis to heart disease, diabetes complications and stroke risk. By having a regular daily routine your gums will stay healthy and your whole body will remain healthy.

How Can You Brush Your Teeth Correctly?

Brushing your teeth twice a day will help remove sticky plaque bacteria from your teeth. But if you brush too hard, this can cause your gums to recede.

• Brush at a 45 degree angle – Angle your toothbrush bristles at a 45 degree angle towards your gums. This will help sweep away any tiny plaque which has built up along your gums.

• Brush in gentle circles – Move your brush in small gentle circles. This will help clean your teeth and will not cause damage to your sensitive gums.

• Brush for two minutes – Divide your mouth into four sections and spend 30 seconds on each section. Brush twice daily, once in the morning and once before bed.

• Use a soft bristle toothbrush – Ensure your toothbrush has soft or extra soft bristles. Hard bristles will cause damage to your teeth by scratching the enamel.

How Can You Clean Between Teeth Daily?

Your toothbrush bristles won’t be able to reach between your teeth. Nearly half of your plaque can be found here. By flossing daily this will help prevent bacteria building up and damaging surrounding tissue.

• Floss daily – Move your floss gently between each tooth. Wrap the floss around the tooth in a C shape and move slightly under your gums.

• Inter dental brushes – If you have large gaps between your teeth use small inter dental brushes.

• Water flosser – If you have braces, dental bridges or implants use a water flosser. This uses high pressured water to blast away any hidden debris and reduce gum inflammation.

You may experience some light bleeding in the first week. By flossing regularly you’ll remove any bacteria. Healthy gums will stop bleeding within two weeks.

Which Anti Plaque Toothpaste And Mouthwash Should You Use?

Using the correct products will help you keep your gums healthy.

• Use Stannous Fluoride toothpaste – Use toothpaste with stannous fluoride in. This helps fight cavity causing bacteria and helps create an anti bacterial barrier along your gums to prevent gingivitis.

• Use an anti bacterial mouthwash – Use an alcohol free mouthwash daily. This will help kill any floating bacteria in areas your toothbrush can’t reach.

• Avoid alcohol based mouthwashes – Avoid using mouthwashes with high levels of alcohol. This will dry out your mouth and reduce natural saliva production.

• Choose officially approved products – Choose products with official approval from medical and dental boards.

How Can Eating A Healthy Diet Keep Your Gums Healthy?

Your immune system needs certain vitamins and minerals to help repair your gums, fight infection and keep your collagen strong.

• Eat lots of vitamin C – Eat plenty of oranges, strawberries, bell peppers and broccoli. This will help strengthen the connective tissue in your gums and prevent bleeding.

• Eat calcium rich foods – Eat plain yogurt, milk, cheese and leafy greens. This will help strengthen the density of your jaw bone.

• Get enough vitamin D – Get enough vitamin D either from sun exposure, fortified foods or supplements. This will help your body absorb calcium and reduce gum inflammation.

• Eat crunchy raw vegetables – Eating crunchy vegetables such as celery and carrots will help stimulate saliva production.

Which Sugary Foods And Starchy Foods Should You Avoid?

Harmful bacteria in your mouth will feed off refined sugars and simple starches causing acidic reactions.

• Avoid drinking sugary drinks – Avoid drinking sugary drinks such as soda, sweet tea and shop bought fruit juice. This will cause your gums to become coated in sugar and cause rapid bacterial growth.

• Avoid sticky foods – Avoid eating dried fruits, sticky sweets and gummy foods. These will stick to the gaps between your teeth and cause rapid damage.

• Rinse with water – If you can’t brush your teeth straight away rinse your mouth thoroughly with water.

• Chew sugar free xylitol gum – Chew a piece of sugar free gum with xylitol in after eating. This will help stop bacteria growing and stimulate saliva production.

Why Should You Avoid Tobacco Products?

Using tobacco products is one of the biggest risk factors for severe periodontitis and losing your teeth.

• Avoid smoking – Smoking reduces the blood flow to your gums causing your gums to not receive enough oxygen and nutrients.

• Avoid chewing tobacco – Chewing tobacco will cause toxic chemicals to be placed directly onto your gums causing severe recession, white patches and oral cancer risk.

• Reduce natural bleeding – Tobacco will reduce natural bleeding in your gums making it harder to recognize active periodontitis.

• Ask your doctor – Ask your doctor for help with quitting. There are programmes, nicotine replacement and support groups available.

How Can You Stay Hydrated For Healthy Gums?

Saliva is a natural defense system in your mouth. It helps remove any food particles, neutralize any acidic bacteria and deliver infection fighting antibodies to your gums.

• Drink plenty of water – Drink plenty of fresh water throughout the day. This will help remove any loose debris.

• Speak to your dentist – If you suffer from dry mouth due to medication or health issues talk to your dentist.

• Use saliva replacements – If dry mouth is causing your gums to become irritated use an over the counter moisturizing gel or spray.

• Reduce caffeine – Try to limit heavy caffeinated drinks such as coffee and energy drinks. This will cause dehydration and reduce saliva.

Why Should You Have A Professional Cleaning Twice A Year?

No matter how well you look after your teeth, calculus (tartar) will start to build up as plaque builds up on the roots of your teeth. Having a professional cleaning will help keep your gums healthy.

• Remove tartar – Your dental hygienist will use special equipment to remove the hard calculus.

• Measure pocket depths – Your dentist will use a small ruler to measure how deep the gaps between your gums and teeth are.

• Identify early signs – By having a professional examination you’ll identify any early signs of gingivitis, early bone loss and hidden decay.

• Deep clean – If your dentist identifies deep pockets (over 4mm) then you’ll have a deep clean (scaling and root planing).

What Is The Daily Routine For Healthy Gums?

• Brush your teeth gently for two minutes twice a day. Using a soft bristle toothbrush and anti plaque fluoride toothpaste.

• Floss between your teeth. Either using floss, inter dental brushes or a water flosser. Do this every night.

• Rinse with an alcohol free therapeutic mouthwash daily.

• Eat a balanced diet with lots of vitamin C, vitamin D, calcium and raw high fiber vegetables.

• Avoid sugary drinks, sticky foods and refined starches. These will cause destructive plaque to grow.

• Quit smoking. This will help ensure your gums receive vital blood flow.

• Drink plenty of fresh water throughout the day. This will help stimulate saliva production.

• Visit your dental clinic every six months.

What Are The Frequently Asked Questions About Healthy Gums?

Why Do My Gums Bleed When I Brush Or Floss?

This is usually caused by gingivitis. Gingivitis is the early stage of gum disease. This is caused by plaque building up along your gums. As there is bacteria on your gums your immune system causes inflammation locally. This makes your gums sore and cause them to bleed. Don’t stop cleaning. Floss and brush gently every day and the bleeding should stop. Your gums will heal over the course of one to two weeks.

Can Receding Gums Grow Back?

Unfortunately they can’t naturally grow back. However by keeping your mouth extremely clean, using soft bristle toothbrushes and visiting your dentist you will prevent any further recession. If you have severe gum recession a periodontist will carry out specialist surgery to graft new gum tissue.

What Is The Difference Between Gingivitis And Periodontitis?

Gingivitis is the early stage of gum disease. Your gums will be inflamed, red and bleed. There will be no permanent damage to the bone. Periodontitis is when the gingivitis has spread further down into the jaw bone. This causes deep pockets to form, destroys the bone supporting your teeth, causes recession and eventually causes your teeth to become loose.

How Does Diabetes Affect My Gums?

Diabetes and gum disease have a strong link. High blood sugar levels will reduce your bodies ability to fight infection. Diabetics are much more prone to severe periodontitis. Active gum infections will cause toxins to be released into the blood stream making it much harder to keep blood sugar levels under control.

Keeping your gums healthy requires a lifetime commitment to brushing, flossing, eating healthy and visiting the dentist. By taking action now you’ll prevent plaque bacteria from growing, prevent permanent bone loss and keep your smile safe. Work with your dental professional to create a personal oral care routine. This will help keep you healthy in the long term and give you a confident healthy smile.