Taking care of your mouth is imperative to healthy oral hygiene. However, just like with any other part of your body, your mouth can undergo inflammation creating discomfort and irritation. Sore gums can become a major discomfort, but not necessarily a medical emergency.
If you find your gums are sore and painful, try one of these five quick and easy options for relieving your gum pain before running off to the dentist.
Rinse Your Mouth with Salt Water
Salt water is the perfect antidote to unwanted bacteria in our mouths. These bacteria can often cause dental issues and other discomforts. By rinsing your mouth with salt water, it should aid in gum pain.
Create your saltwater rinse by warming a cup of water, adding 1 teaspoon of salt into it, and swishing the water around your mouth thoroughly for a few seconds. Remember, do NOT swallow the salt water, and only use this for relief twice per day.
Warm or Cool Compresses
Both warm and cool compresses applied directly to your gums can quickly alleviate the discomfort you are feeling in your mouth. Create compresses to be used on your face near the site of pain by doing the following:
- For a hot compress you should heat up water to a tolerable level, but do not go as far as boiling it. Grab a clean cloth and soak it in the water. Squeeze out any excess water and place on your face near the inflamed area.
- For a cold compress, use an ice pack wrapped in a cloth and apply it to your face in the same manner.
Alternating both hot and cold compresses can help the inflammation go down, which should help minimize the pain.
Tea Tree Oil
Did you know that tea tree oil has natural anti-inflammatory properties? Natural oils are such a good way of assisting with many daily ailments that people may have. Find a quality tea tree oil and pour a few drops into a glass of water. Use this like a mouthwash.
For added assistance, you could even seek out a toothpaste that contains tea tree oil in it.
Over-the-Counter Pain Medication
If the pain or discomfort in your gums begins to wear on you, you can always try instant relief by using an over-the-counter pain medication. Pain relievers such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and aspirin will do the trick and do it quickly!
For enhanced effectiveness, combine these with other home remedies. There is no need to be in discomfort if your gums are causing you that much distress.
Consider Your Current Nutrition Plan
One of the best ways of helping your inflamed gums is to practice prevention. This is true of almost any situation—preventative measures tend to produce the best results (in this case, that is no gum pain).
Improve your nutrition by incorporating more vitamin C, calcium, and folic acid into your diet. A lack of these nutrients in your nutrition plan can lead to swollen gums.
Green, leafy vegetables, dairy, and some fruits will help boost these nutrients and help you combat much more than sore gums—your entire body will thank you for your nutrition overhaul!
When the pain is too great, it is time to call the dentist!
If you feel as though your gum pain is unmanageable, there may be something seriously wrong. Instead of going on in pain, contact your dentist at The Complete Dentistry of Orland Park and let the professionals do their job. It could be a small problem, but you could also be risking a much larger medical issue.
