Receding gums can’t grow back on their own, but you can stop the process from getting worse and, in many cases, restore lost tissue with professional treatment. What you do depends on how far the recession has progressed. Mild cases often respond well to changes in brushing technique and professional cleanings, while moderate to severe recession may need a gum graft or other surgical repair.
Figure Out What’s Causing It
Before you can fix receding gums, you need to understand what’s driving the problem. The most common causes are brushing too hard, plaque and tartar buildup, and periodontal (gum) disease. Smoking or chewing tobacco, tongue or lip piercings, and teeth that are misaligned also contribute. Past orthodontic treatment can be a factor too.
Some people are simply born with thinner gum tissue, which makes them more vulnerable to recession even with good oral hygiene. If that applies to you, the strategies below still help, but you may need to be more proactive about protecting what you have.
Fix Your Brushing Technique First
Aggressive brushing is one of the top causes of gum recession, and it’s the easiest one to fix. Switch to a soft-bristled toothbrush if you haven’t already. Electric toothbrushes with pressure sensors can help because they alert you when you’re pressing too hard.
The technique most dentists recommend is called the Modified Bass method: hold your toothbrush at an angle so the bristles point toward your gumline, make short back-and-forth strokes, then sweep the brush away from the gumline toward the edge of your tooth. This cleans along and just under the gums without scrubbing them raw. It takes a few days to feel natural, but it makes a real difference over time.
Choose the Right Toothpaste
Receding gums often expose the root surface of your teeth, which has no protective enamel and is far more sensitive to hot, cold, and sweet foods. A toothpaste designed for sensitivity can help. Look for one containing potassium nitrate, which blocks pain signals from reaching the nerve inside your tooth. Fluoride strengthens the exposed root surface and makes it more resistant to decay. Hydroxyapatite is a newer ingredient that helps rebuild mineral structure and reduce sensitivity. Some toothpastes include aloe vera for its anti-inflammatory effect on irritated gum tissue.
Avoid whitening toothpastes, which tend to be more abrasive and can accelerate wear on already-exposed roots.
Consider Oil Pulling as a Supplement
Oil pulling, the practice of swishing oil in your mouth for 10 to 20 minutes, has some clinical support as a complement to regular oral hygiene. A clinical study of 30 patients with chronic gum disease found that virgin coconut oil pulling reduced bacterial levels and inflammatory markers at rates comparable to chlorhexidine, the prescription-strength mouthwash dentists often recommend. Coconut oil also has fewer side effects than chlorhexidine, which can stain teeth with long-term use.
Oil pulling won’t reverse recession or replace brushing and flossing, but it may help control the bacterial load that contributes to gum disease progression.
Get a Professional Deep Cleaning
If plaque and tartar have built up below your gumline, no amount of home care can reach it. A deep cleaning, formally called scaling and root planing, is the standard treatment. Your dentist or hygienist removes tartar and bacteria from the root surfaces of your teeth (scaling), then smooths the roots so plaque has a harder time reattaching (root planing).
This procedure is the only way to eliminate bacteria trapped deep in gum pockets, and getting it done early can prevent further recession and tooth loss. It’s typically done under local anesthesia, and you can expect some soreness and sensitivity for a few days afterward. Most people need one or two sessions depending on how much buildup there is.
Surgical Options for Advanced Recession
When recession has progressed far enough that the root is significantly exposed, or when sensitivity and appearance are bothering you, a gum graft can restore the tissue. There are three main types.
Connective tissue graft is the most common. Your periodontist takes a small piece of tissue from beneath the surface layer on the roof of your mouth and stitches it over the exposed root. This both covers the root and thickens the surrounding gum tissue, which helps prevent future recession in that area.
Free gingival graft takes tissue directly from the surface of the palate and places it on the receded area. The goal here is less about covering the root and more about reinforcing thin, weak gum tissue to prevent further bone loss.
Pedicle graft uses gum tissue from right next to the affected tooth, rotating it over to cover the recession. This works well for a single tooth and avoids a wound on the roof of your mouth, but it requires enough neighboring tissue to borrow from.
Gum grafts typically cost $600 to $1,200 per tooth. Dental insurance often covers 50% to 80% of the cost after your deductible, since recession treatment is considered medically necessary rather than cosmetic.
The Pinhole Technique: A Less Invasive Option
For people who want to avoid a traditional graft, the Pinhole Surgical Technique is a newer alternative. Instead of cutting and stitching tissue, a periodontist makes a tiny hole in the gum above the receded area, loosens the tissue through the hole, and repositions it down over the exposed root. Small collagen strips are placed underneath to hold everything in place.
The results are strong. A clinical study of 115 recession sites found 99% complete root coverage at six months. A broader review of 10 studies found an average of 89% root coverage at six months and about 80% at one year. Longer-term data is encouraging too: one three-year study showed 91.5% of root coverage maintained, and a five-year study still found roughly 85% coverage holding.
Recovery is faster than traditional grafting. Most patients feel fully healed within one to two weeks and can return to normal eating and brushing by that point. The main limitation is that not every case of recession is a good candidate for the pinhole approach, so your periodontist will assess whether it’s appropriate for your situation.
What Determines Your Outcome
How much gum tissue can be recovered depends largely on how far the recession has progressed and whether the bone between your teeth has been lost. When the bone support is still intact and the recession is relatively mild, full root coverage is a realistic goal with grafting. When bone between teeth has eroded significantly, partial coverage may be the best achievable result, and in the most severe cases, the focus shifts to stabilizing what’s left rather than rebuilding.
The single most important factor you control is catching it early. Recession tends to progress slowly, so if you notice your teeth looking longer, feel a notch near the gumline, or have new sensitivity to cold, that’s the time to act. The less tissue you’ve lost, the more options you have and the better the results tend to be.