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Dr. Sanda Moldovan explains three reasons your gums might look gray: metal-backed crowns showing through receded gums, an infected tooth root, or a mercury tattoo from old silver fillings. See a dentist to find out which one.
Dr. Sanda Moldovan explains three reasons your gums might look gray: metal-backed crowns showing through receded gums, an infected tooth root, or a mercury tattoo from old silver fillings. See a dentist to find out which one.
Hi, everyone. I'm Dr. Sandha. One of you tweeted me this question. Why are my gums gray? And I thought, that's a very good question to address. Because sometimes when you look in the mirror and you see the grayishness right at the gum line, this could mean several things. One, you might have a crown there that has a metal backing, and you had a little bit of gum recession, and all of a sudden you see the metal between the crown or between the gum and the tooth. And metal doesn't really belong in the mouth, especially exposed like that in the oral environment. Unless, of course, it's a dental implant. But if you see that, you should definitely get that crown replaced. Also, it can mean that the root itself is dark. So when a root gets dark, that means bacteria has infiltrated in there inside the tooth, and it's through this multitude of channels inside the tooth. It's creating basically a playground. So in that case, you need to have the tooth, the root itself, detoxified. So a root canal specialist can actually go in there with lasers and ozone to clean that root up. Another reason why you might have gray gums is because you might have had some silver filling placed at some point, also otherwise known as amalgam filling, which actually has a lot of mercury in it, so about 50% mercury. So this mercury actually attaches onto the gum even after you've had the filling, and it creates what is called a tattoo. So in that case, you might see the grayishness of the gum, and that's just not good for your health. We should really clean out all that mercury from your body. So three reasons why you might have gray gums. None of them are good, so definitely go get them checked out. If you have any other questions, you could tweet me RSAMDA or send me a message on Facebook. Facebook, ask Dr. Sanda until next time.
