Gum surgery...trip report.

[fluxrad]

I have gum recession on about three of my teeth. This is aparently a hereditary problem, but it wasn't picked up early because I smoked for 10 years. As many ex-smokers know, when you still light up your gums look pink and healthy due to inflamation (side note: aparently smokers are much more likely than those that chew to get oral cancer.) Anyway, when you quit smoking your gums recede and reveal all the underlying problems that had been masked for however long. In my case my dentist found significant decay over the gums of both canines and one other tooth.

I went to see the periodontist several weeks ago and he surmised that I had no soft tissue covering these three teeth. As a result, I'd have to get them covered with transplanted tissue. This is the fun part - when you get this particular procedure done, you have to get the tissue from one of two places:

1. Gum tissue from the roof of the mouth.
2. Alloderm.

Alloderm is, of course, donated human tissue or, as my girlfriend likes to put it, dead people gums.

I was strongly urged to go with the Alloderm due to recovery concerns. If the doctor takes gum tissue from the roof of the mouth recovery time can be greatly increased. Since I'm all about not having to deal with pain or inconvenience, I opted for the dead people gums.

So the decisions were all made and I had the procedure today. What's interesting is this: periodontal surgery generally feels like any other dental procedure. They lay you back, numb you up, screw with your lips, and tell you to open and close a number of times. It's all pretty straightforward...until they start in with the sutures.

Once the Alloderm is attached to the gum tissue, the doctor has to secure them. In order to do this, he's got to sew them on. In addition to attaching them to the ajacent gum tissue, he also attaches them to the gum behind the tooth. As I was laying there half out of it just from having been on my back for 45 minutes with a guy leaning on my face, I noticed the periodontist was actually inserting the needle for the sutures into the roof of my mouth, just above the tooth and pulling it out the front of the gum. At that point I just closed my eyes and listened to a little Soul Coughing.

The rest of the procedure was painless. The doctor applied a putty-like dressing to my gum. He said it would take somewhere between 5 minutes and two weeks to fall out. Other than that I was given a moutherinse, antibiotics, and vicodin for the pain (which I have yet to need). To be honest, the pain isn't really all that bad. It just feels like I got into a fist fight. Maybe a little worse.

We'll see what the gums actually look like in a few days when this putty falls off. But let this be a lesson to you. Take care of your fscking teeth or it's going to be expensive and painful.

[NoRiverRats]

I had a similar thing done about five years ago - FWIW, things have worked out nicely, no more problems. But I do take much better care of my teeth. And I did close my eyes for most of it, think I dozed off actually. When it was done I was impressed with the amount of blood spatter all over my face and bib....

[Freakin]

I'm probably gonna need this in the near future... I brushed my teeth waaay too hard, and I've already got recession (at age 23).... I've started brushing much more gently (I was told to only use two fingers when you brush, so that you cannot apply any real force) but I am still not looking forward to it...

[LittleOldLady]

I had the just about the most extensive gum surgery possible--flap and osseous procedures on all four quadrants simultaneously. This procedure involves detaching the gums, scraping away infected bone, cutting away infected soft tissue, and putting everything back together. This was megapainful and took about a year to heal, leaving me with exposed roots on all my teeth--not pretty. This only postponed the inevitable, and a little over 20 years later I lost all the teeth in my upper jaw. I can tell you the whole thing was more painful and more traumatic and took longer to heal than a labor and emergency c-section and a heart attack and two heart surgeries. I recommend doing whatever you can to avoid advanced gum disease.

In my case, the problem was partly heredity and partly incompetent dentistry ("My gums are bleeding." "Don't worry. Everybody's gums bleed.")

Everyone's gums may bleed, but they are not supposed to.