Symptoms

Depending on the degree of severity, exposed tooth necks show through:

Unpleasant/painful “pulling” when eating sweet, sour, hot, cold food
Pain in the tooth when exposed to air
Reduced gums (tooth looks longer)

When the gums retract, the tooth necks are exposed. This means that a piece of dentin no longer has any protection from the gums. Reasons for receding gums can include excessive brushing, gingivitis, old age or teeth grinding.

It is important to find out the cause. It is best to visit a dentist. If the cause is an inflammation of the periodontium (periodontitis), it must be treated immediately.

It is important to treat the affected areas of the mouth very gently. If, for example, grinding of the teeth is the cause for the retraction of the gums, a splint can be made by the dentist. The gums may have receded for various reasons.

The so-called dentin of the tooth is now partly no longer under the protection of the gums and is exposed. The dentin contains a large number of small tubules which ultimately lead to the pulp. Nerves and blood vessels are located in this pulp. For this reason, contact with cold, hot or acidic food is considered painful. The stimuli pass through the small tubules up to the tooth nerve and a sharp, stabbing pain develops.

Causes – An overview

Exposed tooth necks can have various causes:

Caries/cervical caries
Untreated gum inflammation (gingivitis)
Inflammation of the periodontal apparatus (periodontitis)
Crunching (Bruxism)
Wrong technique when brushing teeth (too much pressure)
Wedge-shaped defects

Causes in detail

The main cause of exposed tooth necks is a disease of the periodontium. This is called periodontitis, colloquially called periodontosis.The periodontium includes the root cement, the gingiva, the alveolar bone and the periodontal membrane (Desmodont). Even a pure gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) can lead to this.

Periodontitis is an inflammation caused by bacteria, which triggers the systematic destruction of the periodontium. Like gingivitis, it is caused by plaque (dental plaque) that is not removed and forms an adherent biofilm over the tooth. The resulting bacteria first start to attack the tooth, then the surrounding tissue and destroy it.

An untreated gingivitis can turn into periodontitis. The course of the inflammation causes the gums to retract further and further and the pain-sensitive tooth necks become more and more accessible. Another reason may be grinding and pressing caused by stress or malposition of the temporomandibular joint.

This type of functional disorder is called bruxism and occurs temporarily at night. The tooth is subjected to great, continuous stress. Another reason, which often does not seem immediately logical, can be excessive brushing.

The assumption is wrong that if you press more with your toothbrush, you will also remove more and better plaque and thus do something good to your teeth. Too much pressure damages the gums, so that they are injured and begin to retract over time. The connective tissue fibers that allow the gum to adhere to the tooth break and the gum is loosened from the neck of the tooth. The premolars and molars, i.e. the lateral teeth, are usually affected. A toothbrush that is too hard or too much abrasive particles in the toothpaste can also lead to this.