I have premature receding gums and dentists over the years have suggested the causes could be either my once wearing orthodontia or perhaps my brushing my teeth too hard (wrong.) But what I’ve noticed over the years is that at night, my saliva is very acidic and I’m wondering if there is any evidence that excessively acidic saliva promotes gum recession–by basically dissolving gum tissue at a very slow rate. (Recently, I’ve made it a practice to drink water if I wake up in the middle of the night, which helps for awhile.)
Second fascinating question…
We all know that those super-concentrated hydrogen peroxide treatment sessions at the dentists will brighten your smile and make the ladies swoon. Question is, will much-weaker over-the-counter HP do the same thing if used consistently over a period of weeks for a few minutes at a time?
Didn’t find anything on tne acidic saliva/gum recession tie-up (just stuff that says, if you eat acidic foods with gum recession, you’re asking for a whole lot of trouble), but I found this scintillating little site all about the lovely things hydrogen peroxide can do to your pearlies.
Lovely. Seems peroxide reacts in your mouth with good ol’ saliva to make uric acid. You know, the stuff which causes gout.
This is a commercial site, but hey, white teeth surely can’t be that necessary …