What to do if your gums are swollen

The gums are our gums, which play a role in fixing the position of our teeth. Our teeth are very important to us and we should protect them well. However, many problems often occur with teeth, including swollen gums. However, we can treat this condition through some methods. So what should we do if our gums are swollen?

Gingival redness and swelling refers to the redness, swelling and bulging of the soft tissue of the gums around the teeth. It is often seen in infectious diseases of gingival tissue caused by dental plaque biofilm, and can also be seen in local foreign body stimulation.

Including gingivitis, adolescent gingivitis, pregnancy gingivitis, periodontitis and other diseases. Diseases such as gingival abscess, periodontal abscess, wisdom tooth pericoronitis or apical periodontitis cause redness and swelling of the gums, often accompanied by pain.

The clinical manifestation is redness, and the gingival margin should be thin and close to the tooth surface. When the gums are red and swollen, the free gingiva and gingival papillae are bright red or dark red. In patients with severe gingivitis and periodontitis, the inflammatory congestion range may spread to the attached gingiva, which is consistent with the range of the periodontal pocket. At the same time, the gingival margin becomes thicker, the gingival papillae become rounded and blunt, and separate from the tooth surface and no longer adhere closely. The gums are soft and enlarged, with a shiny surface and sometimes eroded and exudative gum margins.

For patients with chronic gingivitis, after basic periodontal treatment, such as effective self-plaque control, supragingival cleaning, and subgingival scraping, the inflammation will subside and the gingival tissue can be completely restored to health. Adolescent gingivitis is treated by cleaning to remove plaque and tartar, and local medications such as gingival pocket irrigation, local medication, and gargle can be used when necessary. For individual patients with gingival hypertrophy, gingivectomy can be performed if necessary.

After complete treatment, patients with chronic gingivitis should see significant relief of gingival redness and swelling, and their gums should recover or basically return to a healthy state. If not treated promptly or improperly, gum redness and swelling may persist and may further develop into periodontitis. This may be due to incomplete removal of plaque and tartar, poor patient cooperation, inadequate self-plaque control, or the presence of other plaque retention factors such as systemic diseases.

The redness and swelling of the gums caused by adolescent gingivitis and pregnancy gingivitis may subside or disappear on their own after the hormone levels return to normal. However, since both adolescent gingivitis and pregnancy gingivitis are caused by changes in hormone levels that aggravate existing chronic gingival inflammation, the existing chronic inflammation will not subside naturally.

After systematic and comprehensive treatment, patients with periodontitis will experience reduced gingival redness and swelling, reduced probing depth to less than 5 mm, clinical attachment loss will stop or attachment will be gained, the occlusal relationship will gradually become stable and balanced, and X-ray examinations will show that bone resorption and destruction have stopped or bone tissue has regenerated. If treatment is not timely or improper, gingival redness and swelling may persist. This may also be due to incomplete removal of plaque and tartar, poor patient cooperation, poor self-plaque control, or the continued existence of other plaque retention factors, suffering from systemic diseases and other factors.

Therefore, it is still necessary to use comprehensive periodontal treatment to treat the original chronic gingival inflammation and restore the gums to or basically restore their healthy state.