Gum Grafting: A Comprehensive Guide to Correcting Receding Gums

Gums do not grow back once they are worn away. If you have a receding gumline due to age, gum disease, smoking, or lip piercings, you are going to need to get a gum graft. A gum graft is when the oral surgeon takes a small piece of skin from the roof of your mouth and attaches it to the receding gumline, where it will protect the tooth. Without a gum graft, teeth can become loose, fall out and feel extremely sensitive to temperatures.

Instructions

• 1

  Make a consultation appointment with an oral surgeon to discuss your procedure. The doctor will need to assess the gumline and figure out how to proceed with your case.

• 2

  Go to your surgery appointment with clean teeth. Brush your teeth, floss, and use mouth rinse.

• 3

  Allow the doctor to give you local anesthetic. He will numb your mouth with shots of a strong numbing liquid. Taking a small, thin slice of tissue from the roof of your mouth, he will then attempt to adhere it to the receding gumline. He will stitch it to the surrounding gum tissue where it will become part of your new, permanent gumline.

• 4

  Go home and take some painkillers and eat soft food for a few days to let the new tissue heal. The stitches will dissolve by themselves in a few days.

• 5

  Pay for your gum graft. Without insurance, the cost of grafting one tooth is approximately $3,000.