Dr. Katie ToThe Wellness Dentist, CEO and Founder of Center for Wellness Dentistry and Wellness Dentist Institute.

Can Gums Grow Back on Their Own? Here's the Truth

9 Sept 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief explanation, Dr. Katie To clarifies that gum tissue does not regenerate on its own. She outlines that the mouth contains two distinct types of tissue: the thin, delicate gum tissue that can recede, and the thick, sturdy tissue of the palate (roof of the mouth). Because the gum cannot regrow, a common dental solution is a palatal graft: a surgeon harvests a piece of the robust palatal tissue and sutures it onto the receded gum area to cover the defect and restore function.

Chapters

Unfortunately, gums can't grow back by themselves. But like I said earlier, there's 2 types of tissue in our mouth, this kind and this kind. This is the kind that we want. There's a lot of this kind on the roof of our mouth. The roof of our mouth is primarily composed of this thick tissue that is very sturdy. There is a grafting procedure that we can do where we take a piece from the roof of the mouth, transfer it to where there is recession, and then that way it doesn't necessarily grow back, but we are grafting it to help cover the defect.