Grafting gum tissue - anyone had it done?

[tnf]

I have three teeth where the gumline has receded substantially and I apparently need a graft. In this procedure, they take cut out tissue from the palate (sp?) of your mouth and graft it to the area where the tooth is exposed. Apparently I brush too hard and too often - I was told to back off from 3x a day to 2x a day. I also brush after drinking soda with sugar in it. Bit obsessive I guess. Dang.

Anyone had one of these before? If so, how was the recovery time and did you experience any complications such as the graft not taking and having to do it over again?

The other great thing about this, aside from the fun of them taking a razor and slicing up my gums and my mouth and cutting and pasting tissue here and there, is that the cost is $2600. My dental insurance covers $1750 of stuff per year, total. I've used $700 of that this year, so I get to drop $1600 on this procedure if I decide to have it.

[Transient]

I had it done once when I was a kid. A tooth came in at an awkward angle and they had to remove it. They grafted skin from my palate onto the hole. It wan't at the top of the gum line near my teeth, though, so it's not quite what they'll do to you. No complications from what little I can remember.

[mjrpes]

Can't you just lighten up your brushes for a couple months and see if the gum starts growing back? I'd do that first and if things don't improve then get the procedure done.

[AmIdYfReAk]

Gums dont grow back, once they are recided they are there to stay...

the only way to get anything back is to Graft..

i was warned about this Explictly from my dentist.

And yet, i still dont Floss.

[mjrpes]

wow that sucks then. lazy brushing ftw.

[Mr.Sparkle]

If your toothbrushes flair after a month of use, then you are brushing way too hard.

My dentist told me that brushing your teeth should be like cleaning fine china. Don't be so rough on it and be gentle.

And I've only had tooth implants so that grafting sounds like a crazy procedure.

[plained]

i tend to torque abit too much as well so what i do is just brush 1 or twice a day with chemical and brush .what i do is hold the handle near the end with only my tumb and pinky , holding at the end plus with only the 2 fingers gives pretty well no leverage

totally lessens overtorquage

also when i want to give my teethes a one over , i just give them a good rub with my left hand pinky till they squeek like crazy

hope that helps

[nay0k]

I realize this is an old topic but I will say this: I just had grafting done this Monday. The reason I had it done was because I had a tooth pulled out which leaves a big gap in the middle of my mouth. Need to get it fixed with an implant because I have retainers now and without the implant the teeth will go back to their old position.

So far it's been 72 hours since my operation and I feel pretty good. Swelling is down and I can eat most things again without pain.

Grand total with the implant for me will be about $4500 US.

[Dark Metal]

Hey tnf, how about you graft your gums to the back of my nutsack?

P.S. Enjoy the DuckButter.

[tnf]

I'm not doing it until next winter. Can you wait that long?

[andyman]

He should have a nutsack grafted to his voluptuous labia by then

[DRuM]

Tissue grafting? No problem

[megami]

I had it done about three years ago, one tooth in the lower front had a dip in the gumline which was probably caused by it being moved by braces.

The graft didn't take the first time, had to do it over again, thank goodness at no extra charge. Recovery was actually not that bad, although when I was eating some cereal I pushed a sharp corn flake into the area from where they removed the tissue- OUCH

[MKJ]

what the fuck.
could be me but im pretty sure gums are capable of regenerating.
new brush procedure and lots of picking should keep it from receding and bring it back to normal levels.

[edit] i see amidy's dentist says it doesnt. well ok then