10 Tips to Minimize Gum Recession at Home

I get asked by many people with gum recession; "How can I reverse my receding gums?" or "Can I grow my gums back?"

It's important to remember that receding gums get worse overtime and the progression of gum recession is often caused by trauma to the gum tissue!

In this video, Dr. Joseph Nemeth gives 10 pieces of advice for those suffering with receding gums.

1. When you have gum recession, you should try to use a manual toothbrush instead of an electric toothbrush because the manual brushes are much easier to control. It makes it much less likely that you will damage the thin gum tissue.

2. Do not hold your toothbrush with a fist! Hold it with your fingertips.

3. When you brush your teeth with gum recession, it's important to use a specific technique. On your upper teeth, brush your gums downward, and on the lower teeth, brush your gums upward. This massages the gum tissue in the correct direction so that they have a better chance of staying thicker and healthier.

4. If you have receding gums, make sure you use a soft bristle toothbrush. There are now super soft toothbrushes available online at Amazon. This is not an advertisement for these super soft toothbrushes. However, we feel these are great for people suffering from gum recession and they still do an excellent job of cleaning the teeth.

5. Dr. Nemeth does not recommend using an electric toothbrush if you have thin gums. However, if you do use an electric toothbrush, make sure you hold it with your fingertips. This ensures that you're not putting a lot of pressure on your gum tissue.

6. If you smoke cigarettes or vape with nicotine, consider quitting. Nicotine causes a constriction of the blood vessels. In other words it limits the blood flow throughout your body. If your gum tissues are not getting an adequate blood supply, it is much more likely that they will be thinner and be subject to #gumrecession

7. If you do notice gum recession, the sooner you act the better! Receding gums have a tendency to progress overtime. So, the quicker you can enact these techniques, the better you will be in the long term. You should try to take some action to hault, or reverse the recession as soon as possible.

9. Sometimes orthodontics are necessary. However, you should understand that braces have been known to contribute to gum recession later in life. I would say about 70% of my gum recession patients have had orthodontics in the past. If you see that your braces are causing gum recession, you should talk with your orthodontist about what the next best step is for you to treat gum recession.

10. If you're careful you can possibly avoid gum recession. If you do have #recedinggums
exposed tooth roots, tooth sensitivity or other symptoms of receding gums, you should try to reverse it with some of the techniques I've listed. However, if these do not work, or if the recession is so severe that you feel you need treatment, we offer the best solution available to date, The Pinhole Technique.

How does Pinhole Gum Rejuvenation work?

With the #PinholeSurgicalTechnique, we can cover the roots of the teeth and make the patients tissue thicker, healthier and recession free! Dr. Nemeth has treated hundreds of #GumRecession cases with this technique and he shows some of his success stories in this video!

The inventor of the #PinholeTechnique , Dr. John Chao commends Dr. Nemeth in this video.

If you have any questions about Pinhole, receding gums, or if would like to schedule an appointment, please visit our website,

We DO NOT accept Medicare or Medicaid at our office.
We require that a deposit be made prior to your appointment in order to reserve your time.

We are happy to help you.

Joseph R. Nemeth DDS & Associates
29829 Telegraph Road # 111
Southfield, MI 48034
[phone]

[josephrnemeth]

Hey guys! One more thing I wanted to mention.
If you have gum recession, it may not be the best idea to try any at home Tooth Whitening kits or Activated Charcoal. The peroxide in whitening solutions can irritate the already thin tissue. Also, Activated Charcoal is an abrasive. So it may not be wise to use if you're worried about recession.
Stay healthy everyone!

[TriWaZe]

Nice to see a dentist suggesting the up and down motion and not circles as thats how I was always taught. But my dentist always made it seem like receding gums could easily be reversed just by brushing properly. Which makes me feel lied to. Not to mention he would always tell me regardless of how hard I tried that I had to brush better at the gum line. Which made me vigorously brushing my gums much harder than I should have.

Now im starting to realize how bad receding gums is and that it cant really be reversed. Which in some ways is a bigger deal than cavities but thats all they ever talk about preventing. I feel like dentists need to be more clear and honest about this.

[AutumnHarvest]

I've brushed too hard my entire life. I've never had a cavity, but my gumlines have receeded badly. I'm going to try to hold my brush how you suggested.

[shinehchun]

Holy cow! I have been struggling for years to stop myself from brushing harshly but who knew the solution is utterly simple - I am definitely going to hold my manual toothbrush with my fingertips henceforth ♡

[ladyesther]

Finally! Someone who seems to know what he is talking about. I need one of those ultra soft tooth brushes!

[sofialadune]

I'm from France, i can't beleive you do it for free....It's amazing...

[moniegirly]

Omg I've been saying since I've gotten my braces off years ago my gums are recideing so bad wow and every dentist always looks at me like I'm crazy thank you so much for saying that

[joli]

Great to hear manual tooth brush is better than electric - it makes so much sense what you are saying. I go to a very expensive dentist (who is dental surgeon!)- yet he basically says there is nothing he can do for my receding gums! I have already lost one tooth and I am afraid I will lose more. I wish I could go to you for Pinhole treatment.

[ashleybishton]

ive got bad recession from brushing side to side for years i will try this method. ive just had a scale and polish and can see gums improving days later so will incorporate the brushing technique

[rae]

Thank you for your clear, concise explanation.

[chibba]

I always hold with my fist lmao. I have gum receding in my 20s because I was poor and didn't have dental and always overbrush my teeth to make sure I still have teeth lol

[agente]

Thank you for sharing your expertise. What do you think about massaging gums?

[SKYrise]

Very informative! That super soft brush seems interesting. Thanks doc.

[AngelPrissy]

Hi, Doctor. Why do you recommend cleaning between teeth using interdental stimulators as better than using floss? Thank you.

[samantarizzi]

You are such a great periodontist! I’m currently having gum disease, can’t sleep (it’s 3am where I live) and I’m desperate. I’m 26 years old and I’m dealing with such pain :( I want to go to the dentist, because I just recently found a very good one, but because of this corona virus madness, I don’t know if they’ll take me! I must call first thing in the morning. Thank you so much for this video, sir, I’m gonna be more gentle with my gums and teeth from now on, I promise 😊

[mariaong]

This is very informative and concise! Thank you for this video!

[Aryellish]

What a charismatic doctor! Thanks for the information 👏😊

[desiadams]

Thank you so much for sharing, Dr Nemeth!

[Endsomniac]

Wow this vid was randomly recommended for me and you’re right in Southfield. I’m in Detroit haha. Anyways, thanks for the tips Doc 👍🏾

[elizabethzsoldos]

I'm so happy to find someone Hungarian! :-D Thanks Németh József for your advice - I'll follow it!