Receding gums happen when the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back or wears away, exposing more of the tooth or its root. The causes range from bacterial infection and brushing too hard to inherited traits you can’t control. About 42% of U.S. adults over 30 have some form of periodontal disease, the single biggest driver of gum recession, and that number climbs to nearly 60% in adults 65 and older.
Periodontal Disease
The most common cause of receding gums is periodontal (gum) disease, a bacterial infection that destroys the tissue and bone holding your teeth in place. It starts with plaque, the sticky film that bacteria constantly produce on tooth surfaces. When plaque isn’t removed, it hardens and triggers inflammation in the gums, a stage called gingivitis.
Left untreated, bacteria spread below the gumline and create what’s called a periodontal pocket, an abnormal deepening of the space between the tooth and gum. Inside these pockets, bacteria release toxins that worsen inflammation. Over time, this process breaks down the connective tissue and dissolves the bone supporting the tooth. As bone is lost, the gum tissue has nothing to cling to and migrates downward, exposing the root. This is why advanced gum disease and recession so often go hand in hand.
Brushing Too Hard
Aggressive brushing is one of the most overlooked causes of recession, and it can happen even in mouths free of gum disease. Research shows a clear dose-response relationship between brushing force and tissue damage. People who brush with roughly 2 newtons of force (a light touch) tend to have no recession at all. At around 2.4 newtons, minor recession appears. At 3.8 newtons or above, severe recession develops.
Bristle type matters too. Hard-bristled brushes remove more tooth surface than soft bristles at the same pressure, and the horizontal scrub technique, the most commonly used brushing method, is particularly damaging. That repetitive back-and-forth motion over the gumline gradually wears down the tissue margin. Soft-bristled brushes with thinner, more flexible bristles are gentler on both teeth and gums while actually cleaning more surface area because they flex into grooves that stiff bristles skip over.
Thin Gum Tissue (Gingival Biotype)
Some people are simply born with thinner gum tissue, and this inherited trait significantly raises the risk of recession. A thin gingival biotype features delicate, almost translucent tissue with a narrow band of firmly attached gum and minimal bone covering the front surface of tooth roots. Research confirms that gum thickness is inversely proportional to the amount of recession: the thinner the tissue, the greater the recession.
While genetics largely determine your biotype, tooth size, shape, and position also play a role. People with triangular-shaped crowns and highly scalloped gumlines, both hallmarks of a thin biotype, are more vulnerable to recession from any additional insult, whether that’s inflammation, brushing force, or orthodontic movement. If your gums have always looked thin or you can see tooth roots despite good oral hygiene, your biotype is likely a contributing factor.
Tobacco Use
Smoking damages gum tissue in a way that’s surprisingly deceptive. Tobacco suppresses the body’s normal vascular response to bacterial plaque. In one study, smokers developed roughly 50% fewer new blood vessels in inflamed gum tissue compared to nonsmokers, even when both groups had the same amount of plaque buildup. This means smokers can have significant gum disease progressing beneath the surface without the usual warning sign of bleeding gums.
Tobacco smoke also lowers oxygen levels inside periodontal pockets and reduces the expression of key molecules that immune cells use to reach infected tissue. The combined effect is a mouth that can’t fight infection or heal tissue efficiently. Because the inflammatory signals are dampened, smokers often don’t notice gum problems until recession and bone loss are already advanced.
Hormonal Changes
Fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone directly affect gum tissue because periodontal tissues contain receptors for both hormones. During puberty, pregnancy, and the years leading up to menopause, hormonal shifts can make gums more reactive to even small amounts of plaque.
Progesterone increases the permeability of tiny blood vessels in the gums, alters collagen production, and ramps up inflammatory compounds. This leads to swelling, bleeding, and tissue that’s more fragile. Estrogen, meanwhile, reduces the protective outer layer of gum tissue and slows the production of the cells responsible for tissue repair. During pregnancy, progesterone specifically inhibits an enzyme involved in collagen maintenance in the gums, weakening the tissue’s structure. These hormonal effects don’t cause recession on their own in most cases, but they amplify the damage from plaque, brushing trauma, or existing gum disease.
Teeth Grinding and Clenching
Bruxism, the habit of grinding or clenching your teeth, places excessive lateral force on teeth and the structures supporting them. Over time, this stress can cause micro-damage to the periodontal ligament (the fibrous connection between tooth and bone) and contribute to bone loss around specific teeth. When the bone thins or breaks down from chronic force, the overlying gum tissue follows, receding along with the lost support. Grinding-related recession often shows up on isolated teeth rather than across the entire mouth, particularly on teeth that bear the brunt of the clenching force.
Oral Piercings
Tongue and lip piercings are a well-documented cause of localized gum recession, especially on the lower front teeth. The metal jewelry repeatedly bumps and rubs against the gum tissue on both the outer and inner surfaces of the lower central incisors. This chronic low-grade trauma gradually pushes the gum margin downward. Research shows that lingual (tongue-side) recession typically appears within about two years of getting a tongue piercing. Because the recession develops painlessly, many people don’t notice it until a significant amount of root is exposed.
Tooth Position and Alignment
Teeth that sit outside the natural arch of the jawbone, whether from crowding, rotation, or an unusual eruption path, are more prone to recession. When a tooth is positioned too far toward the lip or cheek, the bone covering its root may be paper-thin or absent entirely. Without adequate bone support, the gum tissue over that root is vulnerable to recession from even normal brushing pressure or mild inflammation. Orthodontic treatment can sometimes trigger recession for the same reason: moving a tooth beyond the boundaries of its bony housing leaves it with insufficient support on one side.
How Recession Progresses
Gum recession doesn’t happen overnight. In its earliest stage, the gum margin pulls back slightly but stays above the boundary where firm, attached gum tissue meets the softer, more mobile tissue deeper in the mouth. At this point, no bone or tissue has been lost between the teeth, and the outlook for treatment is generally favorable.
As recession advances, the margin moves past that boundary, and the softer tissue is all that remains covering the root. In more severe cases, bone loss develops between the teeth as well, not just on the front surface. Once bone is lost between teeth, full coverage of the exposed root becomes much harder to achieve, even with surgical grafting. This is why catching recession early, before bone loss spreads, makes a meaningful difference in what can be restored.
Sensitivity to cold drinks or air, a tooth that looks longer than its neighbors, or a notch you can feel at the gumline are the most common early signs. Recession on the tongue side of teeth is harder to spot on your own and often goes undetected until a dental exam.