Causes – An overview
Common causes of inflammation of the gums are These causes increase the risk of gum bleeding:
- Not removed bacterial plaque
- Mechanical injuries
- Tartar
- Hormonal changes during pregnancy
- Mushrooms
- Viruses
- Thermal damage
- Low salivation
- Mouth breathing
- Smoking
- Pregnancy
- Stress
- Drugs (immunosuppressive drugs)
- Drug consumption
The main cause of inflammation of the gums is bacterial plaque, which is insufficiently removed due to a lack of oral hygiene. The dentist calls such plaque. There are over three hundred different types of bacteria in our oral cavity.
Normally, they do not pose a threat to health. Only when a factor is added that disturbs the balance between them, inflammation occurs. If the teeth are not brushed regularly and thoroughly, the food remains provide an ideal breeding ground for the bacteria.
The bacteria attach themselves to the surface of the teeth and use the food leftovers themselves as food. At the same time, they multiply and accumulate to a dense, tough coating. This plaque is the plaque already mentioned above.
One can also call plaque a biofilm. The bacterial plaque cannot be seen with the naked eye at first. However, it can be stained with special dyes and thus its existence can be proven.
The bacteria continue to multiply and, in the course of their metabolism, produce aggressive products such as acids or toxins that first attack the tooth enamel and later the gums. Acids or toxins are particularly dangerous for the health of the gums when they reach the sulcus. Once the bacteria are in the sulcus, they can no longer be reached as easily by the patient with a toothbrush.
Therefore they can multiply undisturbed and without the risk of being removed. At the transition from the tooth to the gum there is a strip about two millimeters wide where the gum is not firmly attached to the tooth. Here a kind of small pocket is formed, which is called sulcus by the specialist.
The bacterial plaque has an adhesive mechanism that makes it stick very firmly to the tooth surface. Plaque can still be removed with a toothbrush. If this does not happen, plaque becomes tartar.
Tartar can only be removed by the dentist through professional dental cleaning with appropriate equipment, namely ultrasound or scaler (tooth cleaner). Tartar is formed when the calcium contained in saliva is deposited in plaque and mineralizes it. Bacteria can attach themselves to the tartar more easily because it has a very rough surface.
The attached bacteria can now also cause the plaque to grow in scale. The plaque therefore becomes bigger and bigger and pushes itself between the tooth and the gums. If gum pockets form in the process as the gums separate from the tooth, this is called periodontitis.
Parodontitis is a disease of the entire periodontium and can even lead to tooth loss.Drugs against high blood pressure, antiepileptic drugs or immunosuppressive drugs are able to cause inflammation of the gums even without plaque. The hormonal changes during pregnancy, especially the increase in the hormones estradiol and progesterone, can cause inflammation of the gums. Progesterone and estradiol can be metabolized by certain bacteria and thus provide nutrition.
It is also possible that during pregnancy a proliferation of the gums can occur. This growth is called epulis gravidarum and in almost all cases disappears by itself at the end of the pregnancy. The hormonal changes during pregnancy can cause the inflammation of the gums to develop more quickly if plaque is present.
