It’s the worst feeling when you’re enjoying a meal and suddenly a twinge in your gums interrupts. Whether it's a dull ache or a sharp, throbbing sensation, sore gums are a sign that something might be amiss with your oral health. It can be a sign of simple irritation or the early stages of gum disease.
This guide will review the causes, symptoms, and ways to find relief for sore gums.
Understanding Sore Gums
Sore gums, often referred to as gingivitis in its early stages, manifest as redness, gum inflammation, and a tendency for gums to bleed easily when brushing or flossing. While this might seem minor, ignoring these signs can lead to problems. Addressing the underlying issue with support is crucial for maintaining good dental hygiene.
Gingivitis can develop when plaque and tartar irritate and cause an inflammatory reaction in the gum area. The Mayo Clinic details several stages that can be seen from gingivitis and tartar buildup.
Top Causes of Sore Gums
Several factors can contribute to gum pain. Understanding these causes helps determine the proper treatment and find faster relief.
Poor Oral Hygiene
The most common cause of sore gums is not keeping up with dental care. This allows plaque, a sticky film of bacteria, to build up on teeth and potentially to your oral cavity. If plaque stays on the teeth for a bit, it will harden and turn into tartar.
Proper oral care should happen twice a day by brushing and at least once a day by flossing. These healthy oral habits can help prevent most situations that would cause issues for healthy teeth.
Gum Disease
Gingivitis is the initial stage of gum disease, characterized by inflamed, sore, and potentially bleeding gums. Periodontitis is the more advanced stage. Ongoing issues, like ignoring brushing or flossing, will lead to pockets by the gums; this can create issues like causing food to get stuck.
This also makes things like gum infections possible, which can cause things like loose teeth.
Canker Sores
Canker sores show up in the mouth, including on your gums. Though they can look serious at times, canker sores will go away with some time.
Canker sores are a type of ulcer and painful but will typically clear up. Avoid any spicy foods to help in the healing and preventing gum inflammation.
Tobacco Use
Using tobacco can be detrimental to healthy gums. The constant contact with tobacco can severely irritate gum tissue, making things worse.
Also, things like oral cancer have been connected to the use of tobacco and can damage the gums.
Hormonal Changes
Our hormone levels play a pivotal part in overall body health. Times during puberty will cause the body's blood to increase in areas like the gums, potentially leading to them becoming more tender or sore.
When expecting a baby, a pregnant woman can be affected, and needs to share with their doctor if gum pain starts being an issue during pregnancy. Hormone levels shift as people move into menopause, and with it come new changes. Shifting hormones during that time have been reported to have symptoms of the gum disease, including potentially bleeding and burning gums.
Abscessed Tooth
Abscesses cause pus pockets. This can happen at the root of your teeth.
Though most of the time it comes with gums swelling and soreness, other times it can cause no pain. If swelling is occurring in your mouth, make an appointment with your dentist, because an infection is causing a larger concern, most often a root canal.
Oral Cancer
Oral cancer may start out at any area of your mouth, like your gums, your inner cheeks and even the tongue. Seeing it may or may not be possible, but the area should look like a non-healing wound in your mouth.
Contact your West Covina dentist right away for a checkup if non-healing sores that are over 2 weeks do not show improvement.
Brushing Issues
You do need to remove plaque through regular tooth brushing. Doing so with a very forceful, almost harsh like of cleaning your teeth though, that is a cause for concerns.
Too much pressure can also cause receding gums. Some toothpastes can also trigger a bad reaction and irritation of your gums. Changing things, like stopping use of specific toothpastes, is an important step for care if the brand is potentially a problem that is connected to swollen or sore gums.
Other Causes of Sore Gums
Sometimes things like popcorn husks can get lodged between the gum line and the teeth. These types of particles irritate the gums if they aren't cleared with a thorough cleaning and the passing of time. Having food stuck can swell the gums until the food particle is removed. Flossing and brushing thoroughly can help remove any remaining food particles that were once stuck.
Symptoms Associated with Sore Gums
Sore gums are not always noticeable. A person with sore gums can exhibit other symptoms.
Key symptoms of sore gums may include:
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A reddish or even a purple colored gum area.
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Gums may be sore to the touch.
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Bleeding when flossing or brushing.
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Being sore when the temperature changes.
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Halitosis, also known as bad breath.
Home Treatments for Sore Gums
For those suffering from sore gums that aren't long-lasting, there are remedies to help.
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Salt Water Rinse: A warm salt water rinse soothes gums by drawing out inflammation and can reduce harmful bacteria. A common way to make it is to stir one teaspoon of salt into a cup of warm water. Rinse, and spit until the rinse in the cup is gone, just be sure to avoid swallowing it.
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Proper Brushing: Using a soft toothbrush with appropriate care is important. When extra force is put into brushing your gums, it can possibly irritate your gums to cause recession or inflammation. Diligent oral health and brushing help prevent gum disease in several common causes for gum swelling.
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Proper Flossing: Removing items that cause irritation from your teeth using proper technique will clean particles trapped between teeth. Here's a good tutorial for flossing from the experts at the Cleveland Clinic.
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Essential Oils: Certain essential oils, like clove oil, tea tree oil, or peppermint oil, can reduce inflammation when diluted. Put a few drops of essential oil into an ounce of carrier oil, such as coconut or almond oil. Just place a small amount on your gums for some relief.
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Benzocaine: The US National Library of Medicine has found that topical Benzocaine may have an effective relief to reduce irritation to help numb sore gums. Be cautious using Benzocaine by following all safety rule. A numbing gel can help.
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Anti-inflammatory plants: Some reports claim that there are benefits from the root, extract or even the oil that it reduces swelling, irritation and inflammatory reactions.
When to See a West Covina Dentist for Sore Gums
When should you visit the dentist office for help? The sooner the better. However, for more long-term issues or ongoing gum pain lasting over 2 weeks, visit your dentist.
Seeing Dr. Suarez or Dr. Offman can make a real difference and bring peace of mind too, by ruling out major concerns.
Prevention
Preventing sore gums can occur through the use of things like flossing or even dental cleaning routines, done ideally a couple of times a year. Things like diabetes require further upkeep by making sure to monitor things.
Additional Oral Health Tips
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Tip |
Description |
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Brush your teeth |
Use proper methods to promote healthy teeth and gums. |
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Rinse |
Use an antiseptic solution made for proper health practices. Listerine details that in clinical trials it targets several inflammation issues when added into routines. |
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Professional Help |
Work with your dentist to treat, care and monitor issues like impacted teeth, or teeth out of alignment, for concerns before they can impact your gums. The American Dental Association recommends regular checkups. |
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Replace Products |
Replace dentures, dental items, and care products if you notice irritation occurring when you use them. |
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Reduce Irritants |
Reduce acidic, harsh products and tobacco that come in contact with gums, like with a mouth guard, when able. |
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Get Support |
Take the time to get support for your health care if pain arises in areas. Issues that appear serious at the time may be due to poor oral hygiene like forgetting to brush, which is reversible with diligent oral care routines. |
FAQs About Sore Gums
How do you treat sore gums?
Treating sore gums starts with good dental hygiene - brushing twice a day with a soft-bristled toothbrush and flossing regularly. Using an antiseptic mouthwash can also help reduce bacteria and inflammation.
If the soreness persists, see a dentist to check for gum disease and consider potential causes, like impacted teeth or other dental problems. In certain cases, things like anti-inflammatories and benzocaine have some effectiveness in caring for your sore gums.
What causes gums to be very tender?
Many factors can cause tender gums, including plaque buildup, gingivitis (early-stage gum disease), infections, injuries, or hormone levels changes. In most cases, it’s a temporary situation with cleaning habits, but at other times something, for example being pregnant, will have shifting hormones that causes concern if they do not resolve over a week or two.
A condition called acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis can also cause tender gums.
Conclusion
Dealing with sore gums can be frustrating and distracting. This guide hopefully helped explain steps to resolve them.
Be sure to be proactive in cleaning, checking your teeth, being consistent with dental hygiene routines and care habits, as well as diet that support good health to support healthy gums, especially for more permanent fixes. It is also possible you can remove concerns by simply brushing or visiting the dentist, which the dental association recommends.
Remember, healthy gums include foundations of a brighter and happier you. By taking things seriously with a regular routine that you find useful to practice, things are often preventable to allow your mouth a healthier tomorrow.