Gingivitis is an infectious disease that occurs in the tissues surrounding the tooth. It is noticed by edema, redness, brushing or spontaneous bleeding and bad breath in the gums. The main cause of gingivitis is microbial dental plaque.

Dental plaque forms again 12 hours after tooth brushing. For this reason, teeth should be brushed twice a day. Brushing teeth is not enough. In addition to brushing teeth, dental floss should be used, and if necessary, support should be obtained from the interface brush and mouthwash for oral care. Auxiliary antiseptics in mouthwashes and toothpaste provide statistically significant reductions in gingiva, bleeding and plaque indexes. [1]

If the microbial dental plaque accumulated on the surface of the tooth is not cleaned, it causes the accumulation of tartar. Although the rate of calculus formation differs in individuals, the rate of the formation increases with age. Tooth stones adhere to tooth enamel, so they should be cleaned by dentists using professional methods. This process is called detertrage. In this process, the physician removes the surface attachments such as plaque and calculus at the level of the gum from the tooth.

If gingivitis is not treated, it turns into a disease that characterizes advanced bone loss called periodontitis. While inflammation in gingivitis is limited only to the gum, the bottom, root surface of the gum is affected in periodontitis. Bone loss and tooth loss may occur due to periodontitis. Detergent treatment is not enough in periodontitis treatment, curettage with root surface cleaning should be done.

Gingival bleeding is an objective, easily evaluated symptom of inflammation associated with periodontal disease. Gum bleeding can only be a symptom of a problem that can occur in the gums or may indicate another health problem. Leukemia and platelet deficiency are among these diseases. [2nd]

Gingival bleeding can occur due to the hard brushing of the teeth, the use of dental floss, malnutrition, lack of vitamins, the drugs used, increased hormones during pregnancy, stress reasons.

The main treatment for gingival bleeding is to provide oral care. If there is a disease that causes bleeding in the gums, the disease can be resolved by applying treatment for the disease.

There is evidence that smokers have less or delayed gingival bleeding compared to non-smokers; Therefore, smoking should be checked in gingival bleeding studies. Measurement of the gingival bleeding tendency should be an integral part of a comprehensive oral examination. [3]

[1] Figuero E, Roldán S, Serrano J, Escribano M, Martín C, Preshaw PM, Efficacy of adjunctive therapies in patients with gingival inflammation. A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Periodontol. (2019)

[2] Newburn E, Indices to measure gingival bleeding. J Periodontol. (1996)

[3] H. P. Müller and S. Stadermann, Multivariate multilevel models for repeated measures in the study of smoking effects on the association between plaque and gingival bleeding, Clinical Oral Investigations. (2006)