What causes gum bleeding?!
Question: What causes gum bleeding!?
my bfs gums bleed when he brushes his teeth!.!. and its pretty bad!. apparently it does this every time he brushes his teeth and he says it hurts pretty bad, too!.!. he chews tobacco but he says its happened since before he chewed!. he cant visit the dentist at the moment b/c his mom just recently took him off her insurance for personal reasons so he has no way to pay for it!.!. he needs help although he'll never admit it!. anyone know what causes it!? i need proof or something not just a guess b/c i'm really worried about him!. he's 17!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
Answers:
I am a retired Dental Hygienist!.
Everyone who answered and recommended flossing and brushing more often is right on!. The only addition I have is to explaing how to floss properly!. I have seen a LOT of patients over the years that thought they were flossing just fine, but they were doing the wrong way and therefore being ineffective!. They got the floss down between the teeth, but they were just moving it around in the center of the gap!. The purpose of flossing is to clean the sides of the teeth and underneath the gumline inbetween teeth where a toothbrush physically CAN'T clean!. If you don't floss that area it doesn't get cleaned no matter how well you brush!. If food and plaque (full of bacteria) are left there they cause and infection of the gum tissue which is then sore and bleeds easily!. Healthy gums do not bleed!. So here is what you want to do when you floss!. Once the floss is down inbetwwen the teeth, push the floss AGAINST (don't be rough) on the the two teeth and move the floss up and down the tooth ALL the way to the bottom where the tooth connects with the gum!. Then push the floss in the other direction so it presses against the other tooth and do the same thing!. This way you are cleaning the surface of the tooth and the gums inbetween the teeth!.
One way to floss when you are out away from home it to get some of those little white floss holders that you can get at the drugstore!. They come in a plastic package of a whole bunch!. They usually have a pointed pick on the other end, which can be used to get pieces of stuck food from between the teeth!. But use this point carefully!.
When you/he start flossing the way I discribed above, go slowly and concentrate on what you are doing!. After a week of doing this it should become very easy and quick to do!.
When you brush your teeth you want to really get the teeth AND gums really clean and to do this you don't scrub hard, which will harm the gums!. What you do to be effective is to brushs for a long enough time to really get all the areas clean!. It may surprise you that you should brush for minimum of around 4 minutes!. It's a real shocker when you time yourself brushing to see how long you actually brush!.!.!.bet it's much shorter!.
Rinse with Listerine or even better with ProHealth!. Both can be bought at your local drugstore in the dental section!.
One other thing I would suggest, is to have your boyfriend check the area where he places his chew!. If there are ANY signs of the tissue looking white, that iindicates the area is precancerous and he NEEDs to have it checked/watched carefully by a dentist!. And he NEEDs to stop using chew!. I saw a young fellow some years back and he also used chew!. He had to have a large part of his lip and gum removed, but it was too late and the cancer had gone to his brain!. Your mouth has lots of blood vessels near the surface of the tissue and if you are exposing tobacco right on the tissue repeatedly your going to eventually get cancer and that cancer can spread easily via the blood stream to other areas in the body!.
If there is a College (Junior, State or University often have these programs) near you where there is a program for Dental Hygiene, then there will be a clinic where your boyfriend can get his teeth cleaned just as he would at a denatl office for a MUCH lower fee!.
You are a wonderful girlfriend to care so much about your boyfriend and his well being!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
Everyone who answered and recommended flossing and brushing more often is right on!. The only addition I have is to explaing how to floss properly!. I have seen a LOT of patients over the years that thought they were flossing just fine, but they were doing the wrong way and therefore being ineffective!. They got the floss down between the teeth, but they were just moving it around in the center of the gap!. The purpose of flossing is to clean the sides of the teeth and underneath the gumline inbetween teeth where a toothbrush physically CAN'T clean!. If you don't floss that area it doesn't get cleaned no matter how well you brush!. If food and plaque (full of bacteria) are left there they cause and infection of the gum tissue which is then sore and bleeds easily!. Healthy gums do not bleed!. So here is what you want to do when you floss!. Once the floss is down inbetwwen the teeth, push the floss AGAINST (don't be rough) on the the two teeth and move the floss up and down the tooth ALL the way to the bottom where the tooth connects with the gum!. Then push the floss in the other direction so it presses against the other tooth and do the same thing!. This way you are cleaning the surface of the tooth and the gums inbetween the teeth!.
One way to floss when you are out away from home it to get some of those little white floss holders that you can get at the drugstore!. They come in a plastic package of a whole bunch!. They usually have a pointed pick on the other end, which can be used to get pieces of stuck food from between the teeth!. But use this point carefully!.
When you/he start flossing the way I discribed above, go slowly and concentrate on what you are doing!. After a week of doing this it should become very easy and quick to do!.
When you brush your teeth you want to really get the teeth AND gums really clean and to do this you don't scrub hard, which will harm the gums!. What you do to be effective is to brushs for a long enough time to really get all the areas clean!. It may surprise you that you should brush for minimum of around 4 minutes!. It's a real shocker when you time yourself brushing to see how long you actually brush!.!.!.bet it's much shorter!.
Rinse with Listerine or even better with ProHealth!. Both can be bought at your local drugstore in the dental section!.
One other thing I would suggest, is to have your boyfriend check the area where he places his chew!. If there are ANY signs of the tissue looking white, that iindicates the area is precancerous and he NEEDs to have it checked/watched carefully by a dentist!. And he NEEDs to stop using chew!. I saw a young fellow some years back and he also used chew!. He had to have a large part of his lip and gum removed, but it was too late and the cancer had gone to his brain!. Your mouth has lots of blood vessels near the surface of the tissue and if you are exposing tobacco right on the tissue repeatedly your going to eventually get cancer and that cancer can spread easily via the blood stream to other areas in the body!.
If there is a College (Junior, State or University often have these programs) near you where there is a program for Dental Hygiene, then there will be a clinic where your boyfriend can get his teeth cleaned just as he would at a denatl office for a MUCH lower fee!.
You are a wonderful girlfriend to care so much about your boyfriend and his well being!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
Bleeding gums are generally the result of periodontitis - inflammation of the gums!. This usually results from the accumulation of bacteria under the gum lines!. A host of factors contribute to the accumulation of bacteria inclusive of poor oral hygiene, ineffective brushing, using tobacco, not flossing, etc!.
He needs to see a dentist as quickly as possibility for a cleaning - he may ultimatley need scaling and root planning - which your dentist can explain to you!. It is essentially a "deep" cleaning!. In the mean time, he needs to FLOSS, FLOSS, FLOSS!. His gums may bleed excessively while flossing - this is normal!. As he flosses more often the bleeding will subside!. Flossing is the key to alleviate bleeding gums!. For the next several weeks he needs to floss at least three times a day as well as brush after every meal with a soft bristle toothbrush!. Follow each brushing/flossing with a Listering rinse (preferably a Chlorhexidine Gluconate rinse - though this is a prescription rinse)!. Also, purchase a "Periodontal Stimulator" at WalGreens or Wal-Mart!. Use that to stimulate the gums in the areas that bleed most significantly - just follow the enclosed instructions!.
Hope this helps!Www@Answer-Health@Com
He needs to see a dentist as quickly as possibility for a cleaning - he may ultimatley need scaling and root planning - which your dentist can explain to you!. It is essentially a "deep" cleaning!. In the mean time, he needs to FLOSS, FLOSS, FLOSS!. His gums may bleed excessively while flossing - this is normal!. As he flosses more often the bleeding will subside!. Flossing is the key to alleviate bleeding gums!. For the next several weeks he needs to floss at least three times a day as well as brush after every meal with a soft bristle toothbrush!. Follow each brushing/flossing with a Listering rinse (preferably a Chlorhexidine Gluconate rinse - though this is a prescription rinse)!. Also, purchase a "Periodontal Stimulator" at WalGreens or Wal-Mart!. Use that to stimulate the gums in the areas that bleed most significantly - just follow the enclosed instructions!.
Hope this helps!Www@Answer-Health@Com
When a persons gums bleed, that means that they are infected, and you are cleaning your gums deeper than he ever has before!. Make sure he keeps brushing his teeth twice a day, and chewing sugarless gum after meals!. He needs to stop chewing too!.!. That is the worst thing that you can do to destroy your mouth and gums!. Just keep it up with brushing the teeth until he is able to go to the dentist!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
him chewing tobacco isn't making it any better make him quite or make him suffer your choice he's probably just saying that his gums have always bled, but tobacco is bad and if he wasn't lying about having his gums always bleeding like that than he's brushing his teeth to hard or not brushing good enoughor maybe theyr'e infected !.make sure he brushes his teeth every day!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
well first, tell him to stop chewing tabacco!. its gonna get worse, and second, hes not taking care of his gums!. when he was younger thhis probably effected him by not brushing or taking care of his teeth or visiting a dentist regulary!.Www@Answer-Health@Com
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