Key Points at a Glance
- If you suffer from sore gums—whether acutely or on a regular basis—without any underlying dental problems, it can dampen your zest for life.
- However, in most cases, it is quite difficult to identify the cause of the pain on your own.
- Sometimes, however, you can treat it yourself—especially if it’s “just” inflammation.
- Mouthwashes or gels can help in such cases.
We’ve all been there: Your gums hurt. Up to 80 percent of people in Switzerland regularly experience this pain, which in most cases isn’t really serious but does have a negative impact on daily life—especially when it comes to eating and drinking. It’s perfectly fine not to go to the doctor right away but to try to relieve the pain on your own first. That’s because inflamed gums are almost never a serious, long-term problem and usually go away on their own after a few days.
Gum inflammation is almost always the cause
The cause of the pain is often a cold you’ve caught. In fact, it’s often the case that the “normal” cold symptoms—such as a cough, runny nose, hoarseness, and so on—don’t even appear. All the better, then, to know that there are home remedies that, first, keep the pain within tolerable limits and, second, also help the symptoms subside.
Let's start with the tips that may seem a bit radical, but are actually recommended by oral hygiene experts:
- Gum massage: Experts recommend gently massaging the affected areas with a soft toothbrush. While this often causes the gums to bleed, it generally stimulates blood flow and thereby speeds up the self-healing process.
- You can also use a toothbrush to gently massage a tea bag dissolved in water onto the inflamed area. It's a little painful, but it helps.
- Coconut oil also helps when you massage it into the inflamed area.
With a little dietary trick, you may also be able to quickly heal sore gums—by making sure to eat as much garlic as possible. Garlic, you see, fights inflammation and infections.
Herbs and herbal extracts also help
Essential oils from tea tree, peppermint, and cloves used as a mouthwash also produce great results in relieving pain (be sure to follow the dosage instructions—just a few drops per glass of water are enough). For sage and chamomile, the best remedy is a lukewarm tea that you use to rinse your mouth; this soothes and disinfects. You can later place the used tea bags, once they’ve cooled, on the inflamed area and let them sit there for five minutes. Black tea, however, works even better for this.
Ginger is also effective for treating sore gums. Ginger tea is very beneficial in this regard, whether you drink it or use it as a gargle. The same goes for lavender—you can brew tea with it and either drink it or use it as a gargle. If you prefer the taste of apple cider vinegar, mix two teaspoons of it with water and gargle with this solution (but do not drink it). The vinegar fights bacteria, reduces inflammation, and also stimulates saliva production.
