Garak Market Station Dental Clinic - Why Is the Gums' Color..?

Hello, I’m Shin Seung-hwan, the chief director of Yonsei U-Line Dental Clinic Garak Market Station Branch, near Garak-dong, Songpa-gu.

Today, I’d like to talk in a little more understandable way about color changes seen around the gums or teeth, that is, discoloration.

Even if they look similar on the surface,

because the causes are so diverse,

it is important to understand

why each one occurs before approaching it.

The most common thing you see is the darkening of the gums caused by melanin pigment.

Just as skin tone varies depending on the amount of melanin,

there is also a layer of melanin cells in the gum mucosa,

so when there are more of these cells, the gums appear a little darker,

and when there are fewer, they generally look closer to the bright pink color people think of.

This kind of melanin pigment tends to appear in a relatively broad area rather than as a blackened spot in just one specific place,

and especially when it looks dark around the front teeth, some people feel concerned for cosmetic reasons and want treatment.

In such cases, the color can be lightened through methods such as thinning and removing the mucosal surface or laser treatment.

An anesthetic is needed, but in most cases the procedure can be carried out without major issues.

On the other hand, there are also cases where the color changes only locally in one spot.

In these cases, it is usually due to inflammation.

When inflammation develops in the gums due to periodontitis,

or when the nerve has died or inflammation occurs at the root tip,

and that inflammation spreads outward,

the area often swells and becomes yellowish or reddish in color.

For this type, treating the cause is essential, so periodontal treatment,

root canal treatment, and other appropriate care depending on the situation are needed.

Discoloration caused by blood vessel damage is also more common than you might think. When you accidentally hit the gums hard while brushing at home,

or after receiving anesthesia at the dental clinic, a small bruise can form at the needle site and turn bluish.

Just as you can get a bruise on your arm after an injection and rubbing the area,

the gums work the same way.

Even after tooth extraction or implant surgery, the color may change as if the bruise spreads outward,

but in such cases it usually improves naturally after about a week.

There are also cases of discoloration caused by older prosthetic restorations.

In the past, many tooth-colored restorations had metal inside,

so over time the metal color would show through toward the gums,

making the gum margin look dark.

Today, many prostheses do not use metal, such as all-ceramic restorations, so this problem has been mostly resolved,

but if you have an older prosthesis, replacing it can help.

There are also cases where the tooth itself becomes stained,

which is a different issue from gum discoloration.

Smoking, frequent consumption of strongly pigmented foods such as coffee and tea,

and changes that naturally make teeth darker as people age

can all be causes.

In such cases, scaling can remove external stains,

and if the tooth itself has become darker,

whitening treatment can improve the brightness.

A more severe form is internal discoloration,

which often appears in teeth whose nerves have died or that have undergone root canal treatment long ago.

When the nerve dies due to trauma, the tooth can turn yellow,

brown, or sometimes gray.

Front teeth especially are more noticeable because the bone and gums are thin,

so the discolored interior shows through more easily.

This kind of internal discoloration cannot be resolved with scaling or whitening,

and at present there is no way to restore the color perfectly.

As such, because treatment for color changes in the gums and teeth differs completely depending on the cause,

it is important to make an accurate diagnosis of whether it is simple staining, inflammation, or melanin.

If the color has changed differently than usual,

or one side looks especially dark,

don’t take it lightly and it would be best to have it checked at a dental clinic.

This has been Yonsei U-Line Dental Clinic near Garak Market Station in Songpa-gu.