my mom has it and it has eaten away all the gums surrounding her bottom teeth and it looks really gross. i can see it forming on my bottom gums, and sometimes they bleed, like when im brushing my teeth. does anyone know of how to get low-income dental care? is there even such a thing? i really dont want my teeth to end up like my moms.
My gums were in pretty bad shape for a while, I didn't start brushing my teeth regularly until high school. I started brushing really consistently twice a day, flossing (like the most important for gums!) and using a rinse. You can get rid of it on your own but make sure you stick to it. The thing I was missing was I was just brushing my teeth and not my gums. You should brush your gums all the way, usually people have a big enough gumline that you can do one row on your teeth and then a second row of brushing on your gums that doesn't even touch your teeth. My teeth used to bleed everytime I brushed and now they never do. Do your gums front and back and make sure you replace your toothbrush every two months.
I have medicaid and that does provide dental care...the problem is finding a dentist that accepts it. And I think this largely depends on the state. When I lived in SD, every dentist took medicaid. Here in WI, I have to drive an hour to find one.
Otherwise, you might want to just start calling local dentists and see if they have a "free" day. The dentist in my hometown in IL has 1 or 2 Saturdays a year where he provides completely free dental care to low-income people.
You could also try calling your local office that handles food stamps and medicaid offices and see if they know of any dentists that either accept medicaid or offer low-cost services.
I can't help you out with the medicaid, or any of that....
But I second what adcaela said.....
And I'd like to add that after you floss, and then brush..... try rinsing your mouth with a warm water salt solution..... it'll kill any left over bacteria, and get your gums healing nicely.