Improve Your Smile With Cosmetic Dentistry

White Teeth, Dark Gums: How A Dentist Can Help With Dark Spots On Your Gums

30 January 2023 by Christy Long

Just as a dentist treats disorders affecting teeth or gums (or both), a cosmetic dentist can perform cosmetic treatments on both teeth and gums. But what kind of cosmetic dental services can your gums need? If you're concerned about the development of dark spots on your gums, your solution may actually be cosmetic in nature.

A Concentration of Melanin

Dark spots on your gums should be inspected by a medical professional, and yet these patches are typically nothing more than an accumulation of melanin. A concentration of melanin in your gums will appear as a dark spot or multiple spots. These spots are generally slow to develop or may have been barely visible for much of your life, only darkening and becoming more prominent in adulthood.

Inside Your Mouth

The obvious pigmentation of these melanin spots isn't necessarily limited to your gums. They can potentially appear anywhere on your oral mucosa (the soft tissues that line your mouth). Open your mouth and look into the mirror—you may see a few melanin spots. But the ones on your gums are the pressing issue. These can be highly visible, and it doesn't matter how healthy your teeth may be. The effect is spoiled by your gum-based dark spots. You'll need to see a dentist for a procedure called gum depigmentation.

Pigmentation Factors

Before any procedure can be performed, your dentist will need to know about other factors that should be considered. Most levels of pigmentation in a person's gums and oral mucosa are genetic, and you have no control over them. But some toxins may contribute to the darkening of a melanin spot, such as those consumed while smoking. Some medications can do the same. Your dentist will encourage you to stop smoking, and you may need to enquire with your physician about if an alternative medication can be used. These other factors affecting pigmentation don't preclude treatment but mean that it will likely need to be repeated in the future.

Melanin Production

The gum pigmentation treatment itself is advanced and yet surprisingly simple. Using a dental laser, cells in the area that are actively producing melanin are targeted and destroyed, using a specific wavelength. The overlying gingival tissues will be sore and somewhat inflamed after the treatment but should heal quickly and uneventfully. Once healed, the melanin spots will also have disappeared.

Dark spots on your gums (or indeed, anywhere on your body) should always be professionally assessed. But melanin spots on your gums are only a cosmetic issue and a highly-treatable one. 

For more info, contact a local professional like Dan Czapek, D.M.D.

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