You might have noticed a small or large amount of blood on your toothbrush or in the sink when you are brushing your teeth. If so, it is important to educate yourself of what is going on when you see blood. Gingival bleeding depends on an inflammatory state of the gums. If you notice blood when brushing your teeth, it is important to contact your dentist to assess the causes, because inflamed gums are very often a symptom of periodontitis (or advanced gum disease).
The causes of bleeding gums include:
* Accumulation of plaque. Incorrect and insufficient oral hygiene favors the deposition of plaque around and below the gum, causing bleeding, redness and swelling
* Pregnancy (in this case it is a transitory phenomenon)
* Smoke
* Some medications
* Vitamin deficiency (especially vitamins C and K)
* Some diseases (e.g. diabetes, hemophilia, some oncological diseases)
* Too vigorous brushing (better to choose medium or soft bristles)
Additional Causes of gum bleeding
Poor oral hygiene
Inadequate oral hygiene, often associated with the scarce use of dental floss, the brush, or even the lack of them, leads to an increase in a bacterial film, plaque, on the teeth and in the gums. If it is not removed promptly, the gum reacts by becoming inflamed and bleeding (gingivitis). So seeing blood when brushing your teeth means intercepting a gum disease, perhaps still in its initial state which, if not treated in time, could have more serious consequences for the health of the teeth up to their loss (periodontitis).
This last and dramatic situation, commonly known as pyorrhea, is often associated with the presence of bad breath (halitosis), due to the action of toxins released by plaque, which, by decomposing food residues, release gas with an unpleasant smell.
It is also easy to detect a considerable gum swelling around the teeth, up to, with the propagation of the inflammatory state, a situation in which the tissues withdraw from the teeth themselves, exposing the roots and causing a significant increase in the sensitivity of your teeth.
Associated pathologies
In addition to gingival and periodontal inflammation, gum bleeding can also be caused by serious systemic diseases such as: diabetes, coagulation disorders, leukemia.
Other factors
Other important risk factors that very often lead to gum bleeding are: hormonal changes (pregnancy), bad habits (smoking and alcohol).
What to do in case of bleeding? Treatments and remedies
The main solution is to improve oral hygiene. The first thing to do is in fact to remove bacterial plaque with daily tooth brushing, use of dental floss and, possibly, the use of a specific chlorhexidine-based mouthwash recommended by your dentist. If the bacterial plaque is not removed, the gums do not heal and the inflammation cannot be stopped. If the bleeding does not stop, it may be useful to go to the dentist for a professional visit and any specialist therapy. This advice also applies if one of the associated pathologies has been diagnosed. The main takeaways are therefore cleanliness, but also attention. In fact, as common and banal as it may seem, gum bleeding should never be considered a normal occurrence.