It is likely that following an orthodontic treatment an episode of gum recession may occur, but the causes of gingival recessions are not yet clear to date.
What are gingival recessions?
The gingival recession is defined as the displacement towards the tooth root of the upper gum tissue. The effect is also visible to the naked eye, because the teeth appear uncovered with a stretching effect.
Gingival recessions are due to multiple causes, including:
- periodontitis;
- excessive tooth brushing;
- presence of piercings;
- bruxism.
Age greatly affects the progressive increase of the disease, at the age of 20 only 63% of Caucasian males have a gum recession, while at 50 the percentage passes to 90% of patients.
The main consequences of a gingival recession as well as an evident imperfection is the greater predisposition to contract infections and, in particular, a greater probability of contracting a root cavity.
When gum recession is due to orthodontics
The presence of gum recessions can be linked to orthodontic treatments.
In particular, the correlation is due to:
- poor oral hygiene during orthodontic treatment;
- gingivitis during orthodontic repositioning;
- excessive proclination of the mandibular incisors (more than ten degrees with respect to the mandibular line).
Analysis of clinical cases with gum recession
In the journal The European Journal of Orthodontics a study was published to explain the probable correlation between the onset of gum recessions and the inclination of lower incisors during orthodontic therapy.
The study is the result of a careful analysis of a sample of 126 patients who underwent orthodontic treatments. The information was detected by analyzing the dental models and the radiographs of the patients’ skull, on the 126 subjects all the appropriate measurements were performed and the appearance of gingival recession was evaluated.
From the data collected, there was no significant association between the repositioning of teeth through orthodontic treatments and gingival recession.
Only in 25% of cases it was observed that an inclination of the lower incisors equal to or greater than 10 ° was the cause of a gingival recession.
However, the information gathered by the study confirmed the greater presence of gingival recessions in male subjects and a progressive appearance in relation to increasing age.
To date, therefore, the etiology of the presence of gingival recessions following orthodontic therapy is not entirely clear, probably generating this pathology in relation to orthodontics is a set of factors, not so much due to the treatment procedure as to the maintenance of thorough oral hygiene.
