How can you get rid of gingivitis?

How can I get rid of this? Brown gums and gingivitis?

• I haven't been to the Dentist in ten years and I'm 19 years old. I noticed that my front four teeth's bottoms are a little exposed as shown in the picture. My teeth look similar to the picture with a dark pigment. I'm not sure if this is natural (I have brown skin) but I know the teeth thing is not normal. Does this look like early gingivitis? How can I get rid of it? They do not bleed when I touch them but only when I floss them. Now that I am properly taking care of my teeth, it's barely bleeding. *Also one of my teeth (which already had a filling) was being very sensitive when I touched it (I noticed I was using a whitening toothpaste) and when I stopped using that toothpaste and began using Sensodyne, the sensitivity went away but I'm still getting a weird chill when I drink very cold beverages. So my questions are: 1. Do I have gingivitis or something else? (My teeth look almost exactly like the picture with a bit exposure at the bottom of a few of the teeths) 2. If no, what might I have? If it is gingivitis, how can I get rid of it? 3. What about the sensitivity to cold drinks? What can I do about that? ---I do have a dentist appointment on tuesday but I would appreciate the info. http://images.agoramedia.com/dailyglow/gcms/gingivitis.jpg

• Answer:

  Hi there - Let's address your brown gums first. If your skin is brown, you have the same melanin pigmentation in your oral tissues. Your gums would normally be darker than someone whose skin is lighter than you. This is totally normal. Healthy gum tissue ranges all the way from deepest ebony to pale pink, and everything in between. The only abnormal color would be red, as this signifies inflammation. But black, browns, pinks, orange, coral - these are all normal. The same pigment that gives your skin its lovely deep tone is also in the gums. Well, it sounds like you have a little gingival recession. This could be caused by perio disease, overly-aggresive brushing, or even a tight frenum attachment in that area, which could put pressure on those lower front teeth and cause recession. Your dentist will tell you if this is the case. The sensitivity to cold could either be from recession, or a leaky filling. Again, the dentist will have to determine the cause. But now we get down to gingivitis - one of my favorite subjects. Gingivitis is completely reversible - like this: You need to make sure you are brushing effectively. You use a SOFT toothbrush only, and aim it at the gumline at a 45 degree angle. Make sure some of the bristles get into the crevice between the tooth and gum. Use little vibratory strokes, and then sweep the brush up toward the biting surface. Go around your whole mouth like this - don't forget the tongue side of the teeth. Don't scrub back and forth - except on the biting surface of the back teeth. Flossing: Take a length of floss and wrap it around your 2 middle fingers. Hold about a 2" piece tight between your forefingers and thumbs. Insert the floss gently against a tooth side, then curve your hands so that the floss is making a letter "C" shape against the tooth. Keeping the floss always in contact with the tooth, move it up and down, making sure you GENTLY floss under the gumline. To move to the adjacent tooth, bring the floss up and OVER the little pink triangle of gum, slide to a fresh section of floss, and bring it against the next tooth surface, and repeat. You should never snap the floss down hard, and never "saw" back and forth. Continue around your whole mouth like this. When you get to the back teeth, it's going to be very hard to curve the floss - but that's ok, just do the best you can. If you ever feel like it's going to get stuck in the contact or shred, then just pull it through, like you'd pull thread through a needle eye. Brushing at least twice a day, and flossing once, using these techniques will usually clear up gingivitis. The best time to concentrate your efforts is before bed, so that you go to sleep with a clean mouth. The bleeding should stop within 2 weeks. I am enclosing 2 links for you that describe these techniques very clearly - one for brushing, the other for flossing. ***Hope this helps!