Can anyone comment on Gum Recession?

[Metroomy993]

Hi all just wanted a second opinion on my gums and if they are badly recessed or of its nothing to worry about. I think i might be getting a bout of hypochondria but I'm really worried about my oral health at the moment. I've never brought up gum recession to my dentist and he has never mentioned it but if anyone could give a second opinion I'd be really greatful.

https://imgur.com/gmrjTGr

 

[Gordon]

That looks fine. You're doing a really good job on your cleaning there, it's a difficult part of your mouth to keep clean.

That's such a good photo, would you mind if we make a wee tutorial out of it for some of the other members? If you do mind I'll delete this post shortly.

Here are some points of interest on that photo...

1) You see how the gum area around the necks of the teeth is kind of "stippled" and quite pale pink in colour? That's a very good sign, there's no gingivitis present or else the gums sort of go shiny and "puffy" looking. They also get redder and less pale pink.

2) See how the colour changes to a much darker pink about 4mm down from the teeth? We call that a "health line"; it tends to disappear if there's some periodontal disease going on.

3) See the little pale pink thing that's heading towards the middle of the 2 front teeth? That's the "labial frenum", its a little bit of ligament that helps attach the lip to the lower jaw bone. Because of where it is, it's easy to traumatise when you're cleaning your teeth and tends to become a little plaque trap, because it gets tender when traumatised, people avoid it with their brush and so you quite often see some localised gingivitis in that area, which then causes the gums to recede quite badly in this area.

The best way to keep this area clean is to do what the OP is doing here, use your spare hand to pull the lip down out of the way so you can both see what you're doing and make space for your toothbrush.