Receding gums can’t grow back on their own, but you have several options to stop the process and restore lost tissue. What you do depends on how far the recession has progressed: mild cases respond well to changes in your daily oral care routine and professional deep cleanings, while more advanced recession typically requires a surgical procedure like gum grafting. The key is acting early, because the longer gums recede, the fewer nonsurgical options remain.
Why Gums Recede in the First Place
Gum recession happens when the tissue surrounding your teeth pulls away from the tooth, exposing more of the root. The most common culprits are gum disease (caused by plaque and tartar buildup), brushing too hard, tobacco use, teeth grinding, misaligned teeth, and oral piercings that rub against the gums. Some people are simply born with thinner gum tissue, which makes them more prone to recession even with good oral hygiene.
Understanding your specific cause matters because treatment looks different depending on what’s driving the problem. If aggressive brushing is wearing your tissue away, a softer technique solves the issue before it gets worse. If gum disease is the root cause, no amount of gentle brushing will help until the infection underneath is addressed.
Fixing Your Brushing Technique
Hard brushing is one of the most preventable causes of recession. Switching to a soft-bristled toothbrush and learning the Modified Bass technique can protect the tissue you still have. Hold your toothbrush at an angle so the bristles point toward your gum line, make short back-and-forth strokes, then sweep the brush away from the gum toward the edge of the tooth. This cleans effectively without scrubbing the tissue raw.
If you notice your toothbrush bristles are flattened or splayed within a few weeks, you’re pressing too hard. An electric toothbrush with a pressure sensor can help break the habit.
Deep Cleaning to Stop Gum Disease
When recession is caused by gum disease, a standard cleaning isn’t enough. Your dentist will recommend scaling and root planing, a deep cleaning done under local anesthesia. Scaling removes tartar and bacteria that have built up below the gum line, in places your toothbrush can’t reach. Root planing then smooths the surface of your tooth roots so plaque and tartar have a harder time reattaching.
This procedure won’t regrow lost tissue, but it eliminates the bacterial infection driving the recession and creates an environment where your gums can reattach more snugly to the tooth. For mild to moderate recession caused by periodontal disease, deep cleaning is often the only professional treatment needed. Getting it done early can prevent tooth loss and further gum loss down the road.
Gum Graft Surgery
When recession is moderate to severe, surgery is the most reliable way to restore your gum line. The traditional approach involves taking a small piece of tissue from the roof of your mouth (or occasionally from nearby gum tissue) and stitching it over the exposed root. This creates two healing sites in your mouth, which means a longer recovery, but it works well even when a significant amount of tissue has been lost.
A gum graft costs between $600 and $1,200 per tooth on average. If gum contouring is needed alongside the graft, costs increase by roughly $1,000 to $3,000 per tooth. Using donor tissue rather than your own also tends to raise the price.
Recovery After Gum Grafting
Plan on one to two weeks of recovery, sometimes longer. The first day involves bleeding, swelling, and discomfort. Stick to soft, cool foods like yogurt, pudding, and smoothies. During the first week, bleeding should stop within 24 to 48 hours, but swelling continues for three to four days. You can begin eating soft foods like eggs, pasta, fish, and cooked vegetables as tolerated. Avoid exercise, heavy lifting, and strenuous activity for at least the first week.
By the second week, swelling and bruising should be fading. You can start adding more solid foods back, but hold off on anything hard, crunchy, or spicy until your surgeon gives the all-clear.
The Pinhole Surgical Technique
A newer alternative to grafting works through a tiny pinhole made at the back of the receding gum tissue. Your dentist uses this entry point to gently push the existing gum tissue back down into its original position, then places a collagen strip over the area to hold it while it heals. No tissue is harvested from another part of your mouth, and no sutures are needed.
Recovery is dramatically faster. The pinhole entry points tend to heal within a day, and the collagen strips dissolve naturally into the tissue as it heals. The catch: this technique only works if you still have enough surrounding gum tissue to reposition. When large amounts of tissue have already been lost, a traditional graft is typically necessary instead.
Regenerative Treatments
In some cases, your dentist may use a protein gel applied to the exposed root surface during surgery. This gel mimics the natural proteins your body uses during tooth development, encouraging your own stem cells to rebuild the supporting structures around your teeth, including bone, the ligament that connects tooth to bone, and the hard tissue covering the root. It works by stimulating new blood vessel growth and reducing inflammation at the surgical site, creating conditions where your body can regenerate tissue it normally couldn’t replace on its own. This approach is sometimes combined with grafting or used alongside a membrane that acts as a barrier to guide tissue growth in the right direction.
Addressing Teeth Grinding
If you clench or grind your teeth at night, the constant force stresses the tissue around your teeth and pushes gums to pull away from the roots. Some teeth bear heavier bite forces than others, leading to uneven recession that can be hard to explain otherwise. A night guard reduces the total force on your teeth and redistributes pressure more evenly across your bite. If grinding is contributing to your recession, fixing everything else without addressing this will leave you vulnerable to continued tissue loss.
What Natural Remedies Can and Can’t Do
Oil pulling with coconut oil appears to reduce plaque buildup and gum inflammation based on a 2020 review of studies. Green tea may help fight the bacteria that cause gum inflammation, though the evidence remains limited. A 2024 study found that applying aloe vera gel under the gums alongside a professional deep cleaning reduced bacteria and inflammation more than deep cleaning alone.
None of these remedies have been shown to regrow gum tissue. No natural treatment can do that. They may support overall gum health and slow further irritation, making them reasonable additions to your routine, but they’re not substitutes for professional treatment when recession has already occurred. Think of them as maintenance tools, not fixes.
Choosing the Right Approach
For early or mild recession, improving your brushing technique, getting a deep cleaning if gum disease is present, and wearing a night guard if you grind your teeth may be all you need. These steps stop the progression and protect the tissue that remains.
For moderate recession with enough surrounding tissue, the pinhole technique offers a faster recovery and no need for tissue harvesting. For advanced recession where significant tissue is gone, traditional gum grafting remains the gold standard. Your periodontist can assess the severity and recommend the best fit. The earlier you act, the simpler and less expensive the solution tends to be.