Seeking experience with him grafts for receding gums

July 5, 2022 12:08 PM

Have you had a gum graft or other treatment for receding gums? Please share your experiences, so I can decide whether it's worth meeting with a specialist.

I have a couple of teeth which, due to some dental work years ago, have very receded gums. One dentist I have seen in the past few years mentioned that I could potentially get this fixed (by a specialist), but another dentist I saw didn't think that was really necqessary. I would quite like to do it for aesthetic reasons, but am also keen to do it if it will be helpful for trying to keep all my teeth.

A couple of my main questions are:
whether a gum graft is purely aesthetic or also helpful with keeping teeth?

Does the grafted gum actually sit properly or would you basically end up with a little gum pocket which you need to try to keep clean?

Is there much risk of treatment making the issue worse?

I will of course ask the specialist all these questions too, if I see them.

posted by kinddieserzeit to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

I had a gum graft fifteen years or so ago; I gather the state of the art has improved. But even with the technology of the time the graft sits just like any other part of my gum line, no special cleaning or treatment required. My understanding is that for me it was a functional issue as much as aesthetic, but I imagine that’s case specific.

I would do it again with little hesitation. By far the worst part for me was actually taking the graft from the roof of my mouth, and my dentist tells me that donor grafts are common these days and should be an option if I ever need another graft.
posted by Stacey at 12:34 PM on July 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've had two gum grafts to address receding gum tissue; one was in October 2019, and the second was in February 2020. My periodontist wasn't thrilled with the outcome of the first one, so she tried again, and the results weren't much better. My dentist doesn't recommend that I try again; due to the placement of the recession, I'm probably not going to get better results than I already did. It certainly didn't make the problem WORSE, but it didn't help very much.

While I don't love the aesthetics of it, the recession is on my bottom, middle front teeth, so it's rare that people see them anyway! I don't have any pain or sensitivity, so I'm just going to leave it alone for the foreseeable future.

As for the procedures themselves: I elected to be sedated because I'm anxious about people, y'know, cutting and sewing things in my mouth. The recovery is a bit onerous (having to modify your diet, not directly brush the adjacent teeth for many weeks, using special mouthwash, etc.) but it's not terrible. For me, the worst part was being put on steroids to help with swelling, which then gave me two full weeks of insomnia. I opted for no steroids the second time, and I definitely had more swelling and pain, but at least I could sleep.

All in all: I guess I'm glad I tried them, because I was keen to fix the problem, and we couldn't have known that they wouldn't stick. That said, it was a lot of effort and discomfort for something that didn't actually help.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 12:37 PM on July 5, 2022

I had one that went smoothly. My dentist said he thought I needed a graft and referred me to a periodontist, who agreed and did the graft. That said, I really wish I'd gotten a second opinion from another periodontist before having it done, especially after reading this article: "The Truth About Dentistry: It’s much less scientific—and more prone to gratuitous procedures—than you may think."

"...dentistry’s struggle to embrace scientific inquiry has left dentists with considerable latitude to advise unnecessary procedures... [which] include root canals, the application of crowns and veneers, teeth whitening and filing, deep cleaning, gum grafts, fillings for 'microcavities'—incipient lesions that do not require immediate treatment—and superfluous restorations and replacements, such as swapping old metal fillings for modern resin ones."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:44 PM on July 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

I had this treatment done about a month ago. Of course you should speak to a specialist but in my case it was NOT worth it. I guess the fundamental issue was communication: I had one spot where the gum had receded over the tooth, and food would get stuck in it and it would itch; it was also very slightly noticeable, so a small cosmetic issue. My dentist pitched it to me as a quick and easy procedure; I went to the periodontist expecting to be in and out with nothing more than some light swelling.

This is not a minor procedure, it is minor surgery. I stumbled home feeling like I’d been hit by a truck, having been given no anesthesia or pain relief beyond the local anesthetic. The next day, my face swelled, and it kept swelling for the next three days, to the point that I developed a black eye. The pain was manageable after the first day with the high-dose Ibuprofen they prescribed me, but i was so uncomfortable and exhausted from the swelling that I was unable to work for the next 4 days.

The swelling eventually went down and from my periodontist’s reaction, this was par for the course. The worst part is, though, that it looks MUCH worse than it did before: there’s a thick chunk of tissue attached to the top of my tooth that doesn’t match the rest of my mouth—this after the doctor told me there would be no scarring. Apparently he wants me to come back in September so he can “shave it down”…I’m not going to see him again, obviously, but I’m going to a wait a little while to see if it gets better on its own, though i bet I won’t.

Depending on the severity of your problem and the quality of your periodontist, this could be worth it for you—my gum doesn’t itch anymore—but for me it absolutely was not.
posted by Merricat Blackwood at 12:46 PM on July 5, 2022

Yes, lower right and upper left side. In my case, it needed to be done as I had some significant recession across multiple teeth and would have eventually lost them. I elected to have both sides done at the same time as the periodontist took the graft from the roof of my mouth and I did not want to go through the process twice.

The roughest part of the healing was the protector I had to use for the graft site - the edges were not sanded down properly making it very, very uncomfortable. It never occurred to me to contact him or my dentist to adjust the thing, which would have been appropriate.

My periodontist was a huge advocate for pain AND stress management before, during and after the procedure. He prescribed valium to take prior to the surgery (I really dreaded it) and left very specific instructions on how to manage recovery. Aside from the issues with the protector I felt no pain.

And like Merricat Blackwood, it was several days before I felt functional, so be prepared to take some time off.

I would do it again.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 1:27 PM on July 5, 2022

It's functional, not just aesthetic. It's functionally just like the rest of my gums.

I would do a consultation with a periodontist. The regular dentists may not really know if you need it or not.
posted by J. Wilson at 1:28 PM on July 5, 2022

I had a general dentist many years ago tell me I needed grafts, and they sent me to a periodontist, who agreed. Both dentists were so pushy about it, it made me suspicious (or, I should say, $u$piciou$.) So I got a second opinion from another (in my case, better) dentist, and he said I didn't need grafts, just fillers. He put in the fillers and they have been great.
posted by SageTrail at 1:39 PM on July 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

I've had two, both worked great and have had a notable positive effect and both times I felt I'd rather have my teeth fall out than go through the experience again. I'll probably get a third (braces destroy your mouth). I assume like childbirth the bad memories fade enough over time to convince you it wasn't that bad.

I did a cadaver donation (collagen matrix, the dentist would have preferred I didn't refer to as such, but come on), and the roof of my mouth. The roof one did better, but then you have a hole that has to fill in. Maybe she cut too much out, but it covered three teeth! The donated gums barely cover 2.

The grafted gums eventually smoothed over and you can barely tell it's a graft. Feeling also grew into it over time, so I only really know there's two grafts because it's the healthiest two parts of my gums.
posted by Dynex at 3:01 PM on July 5, 2022

Response by poster: Apologies for the autocorrect ("him") in the title. I asked the question about 4am on my mobile and didn't catch that
posted by kinddieserzeit at 3:44 PM on July 5, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. Sounds like the procedure itself is unpleasant, but the benefits certainly possible. I will arrange appointments with a specialist or two to discuss further.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:50 PM on July 5, 2022