Ms L’s dentist referred her to Manoj Tank, the Specialist in periodontics at Elmsleigh House, due to having receding gums; she had noticed this herself when she pulled her upper lip back.
On examination, Manoj found she had significant gum recession around some of her upper front teeth, as well as some of her lower teeth to a lesser extent. The reason for this gum recession was due to a combination of genetically thin gums as well as previous aggressive toothbrushing action.
Manoj showed Ms L a new toothbrushing technique to use on the areas of recession, rolling a soft manual toothbrush from the gums towards the tip of the teeth in these areas. She could continue to use her electric toothbrush on her other teeth, and floss in between her teeth as usual.
In order to address the gum recession, Manoj needed to thicken the gums by carrying out some gum grafting. This could either be done by using her own gum from her palate, which is the gold standard treatment for gum recession, or alternatively use a donor tissue, which can work very well in such situations and avoids a second surgical site and procedure in the mouth. Donor materials are essentially a tissue matrix without any cells that allows a patient’s own gum tissue to grow into it seamlessly, and Ms L selected this option for treatment.
Manoj performed gum grafting surgery using donor tissue matrix to thicken and replace the lost gum around Ms L’s upper front teeth. He also repositioned her gum line to help cover the exposed root surfaces in this area. The benefit of this work was to give Ms L a good long-term functional and cosmetic result.
After two weeks Ms L returned to see Manoj to review healing and remove her stitches, and she returned to assess further healing and for a final review after healing was complete.
Manoj and Ms L were delighted with the overall result, and she was returned to her dentist for her usual dental check-ups and hygiene appointments to continue to look after her teeth and gums.
