hey it's dr amanda with straightsmilesolutionstraightsmilesolutions.com
here today to answer more questions um that you all may have about your teeth gums mouth braces
and orthodontics and today we're venturing a little bit more outside the orthodontic
spectrum to talk a little bit about just some oral health questions that some of you have had
so the question today i got was about bleeding gums and like
why would your gums bleed so i know like blood is never good it's gross nobody likes it um
in dentistry we see it a lot so it doesn't really freak us out but bleeding gums are never normal
so remember that that is something that needs to be fixed so it could be something as minor as
just some gingivitis and we'll go over what to do about that or it could be something significantly
major that maybe isn't really related to your teeth but it's related to your body
or systemic health a disease and it's manifesting or showing one of its symptoms in your mouth
through bleeding gums so remember if and when you ever have bleeding gums it's not something that's
okay it is something that you need to investigate first thing i recommend that you do if you haven't
done it already is to see your dentist right easy right um i know people think oh it's covered i
shouldn't be saying my dentist but you should if you haven't been to your dentist for a normal full
exam cleaning and evaluation every six months it's time for you to schedule them so of course
you should do that right um another thing that you should do of course is visit your physician
if you haven't had a regular checkup and blood work if you're an adult good idea to go ahead
and get that scheduled as well so do those two things um let's tackle the most obvious
you know answer differential diagnosis which would be most likely gingivitis most likely
just a mild gum infection easy to fix first thing i recommend that you do is start flossing twice a
day if you've never done it before i know everyone rolls their eyes but magically flossing is so easy
so cheap i know people don't love doing it but i'm telling you it will transform your life transform
your health and it is a two dollar investment per month cheaper than a starbucks one starbucks that
will improve your total body health improve the way you feel and improve the health of your teeth
let you keep your teeth for longer it'll actually save you thousands and tens of thousands of
dollars over your lifetime by investing that two dollars right now because flossing is the easiest
way to improve your health your total body health there are so there's so much correlation between
having plaque and bacteria entering your bloodstream through unhealthy teeth and gums
affecting your whole body health and there's even right now they're showing that covid is indirectly
related to periodontal disease which is indirectly or directly related to flossing and brushing so
brushing only gets the flat surfaces of your teeth it does not get in between your teeth or
under your gums so you have to floss to get the rest of the plaque off and it's easy
and if you really really hate flossing i recommend getting a water pick which is a little machine i
like the cordless one that you can fill up in your bathroom and take it in your shower and just like
shoot like power wash your your in between your teeth it works just as well it works really good
um you can do that instead of flossing if that's what you'd like to do it's very effective um
other thing you can use is sonicare has an air flosser i don't think that's quite as good
as the as the water pick but um yeah that's that's pretty much it you know floss floss twice a day
remember when you first start flossing it'll probably take a week or two before the bleeding
goes away as a matter of fact the bleeding will likely get worse for a few days so it's a little
gross initially you have to push through it you can't quit keep flossing and brushing
twice a day or at least brushing after every meal that includes lunch time i know people
think that's a little nutty but i always do it i mean i remember when i first went to dental school
i was like oh my goodness everybody's brushing their teeth after lunch i never used to do that
and i didn't floss till i went to dental school because i didn't really understand the importance
of it and that once i did oh my goodness you'll never stop again you'll always have floss with you
so yes but you know on the systemic side i mean most likely if if you get a clean
bill of health and it's not that it could just be an infection that's localized in one area
could be a really bad cavity could be a broken tooth if you're not having other pain and it
could be something systemic like diabetes various lymphomas leukemias there's a lot of systemic
conditions i know i'm not trying to freak you out could be pregnancy as well pregnancy does manifest
with pregnancy gingivitis even if you have really good hygiene there's some people that sometimes
get some bleeding during pregnancy you have to be even more amazing with your hygiene during
pregnancy so um don't freak out but just don't let it go is my tip for you all right thanks so much