Protecting Your Gums: Six Tips

A lot of focus is placed on keeping teeth white and dealing with cavities, but it's just as important to think about your gums. The gums inside your mouth hold your teeth in place and protect the nerve endings and capillaries that serve your teeth. To keep them pink and pain-free, observe the following tips.

Consume More C

Vitamin C consumption is one of the best things you can do if you want to avoid gum (periodontal) disease. This can be done by eating more foods that contain this vital nutrient, such as potatoes, broccoli, strawberries and oranges. If you don't want to add substantial amounts of those kinds of foods to your diet, you can also use supplemental tablets or powders. If you do though, be sure to check with your doctor to ensure that those supplements are appropriate for your particular situation.

Rinse with Peroxide or Salt-Water

For general, repeated cleaning of your gums, rinses are a great idea. You can try the regular hydrogen peroxide you purchase from your local drugstore; this solution is anti-bacterial, so it can lower the amount of bacteria in your mouth that could creep beneath the gumline and cause trouble.

Salt-water rinses, on the other hand, are quite helpful for dealing with any incidents of puffy or sore gums. Salt works to calm swelling membranes, so vigorous rinses a few times each day that you feel some soreness in the gum area can help.

Avoid Clove Oil

If you do start to have some gum inflammation, you may imagine that clove oil will soothe the pain just as the oil eases tooth pain. This is not necessarily the case, and depending on how potent the oil is, you could experience a significant burning sensation on your gums. That can make your gum discomfort worse. Stick with your peroxide and salt-water rinses to feel relief.

Try Oil-Pulling

Oil-pulling may be something you've heard about but have some skepticism towards. However, your thoughts might change after trying it. Simply dropping a bit of coconut or olive oil into your mouth to swish about for a few minutes can do a great job of "washing" your gums and making them feel healthier. If you can make a habit of this practice, you might find your gums look great; so will your teeth.

With this information, you can start paying more attention to the gums you've got. For additional reading, talk about periodontal care with your dentist; they may refer you to a periodontist or provide you with even more information to use.


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