It’s always a scary moment when your child comes to you, complaining of blood in their mouth. If you’ve ruled out the incident of injury, you may want to see if the source of pain and discomfort is coming from your child’s gums. There are a few different things that can cause your child’s gums to bleed.
A new toothbrush
Getting a new toothbrush is always a refreshing experience. You get to through away your worn down toothbrush, and use the soft, new bristles to clean your teeth. However, many new toothbrushes have firm bristles, because they haven’t been used yet. If the bristles on your child’s toothbrush are too firm, it could cause irritation and abrasions to their gums. This is probably the first thing you’ll want to check if your child is complaining of their gums hurting or bleeding. When buying a new toothbrush, always look for brushes with soft bristles. They clean just as well as firm bristles, but are much softer on the gums. In addition, make sure your child isn’t brushing their teeth with too much pressure, as that can also cause irritation to the gums.
A new flossing routine
If your child doesn’t floss their teeth regularly, starting a new flossing routine is very likely to cause irritation to the gums and potentially cause bleeding. Deep crevices in the gums are very sensitive, and therefore are easily agitated when someone starts a new flossing routine. Don’t let your child be discouraged by their sensitive gums, though. It takes about a week after beginning to floss for the sensitivity and pain in their gums to subside.
Medications
Some medications can cause inflamed and sensitive gums, meaning they’ll be more susceptible to bleeding. If your child’s gums are bleeding and they’ve just started taking a new medication, this may be the reason why. Check the information packet that comes with their medication, and make sure that your child is brushing their teeth a little more gently until the side effects of their new medication wear off.
Gum Disease
Gum disease can be caused by a number of factors, and if you suspect your child has gum disease you should take them in to have their gums checked immediately. If they have gums that bleed easily, are red and swollen for an extended period of time without reasonable cause, and are tender, it’s possible that there could be some sort of infection or disease causing the pain and bleeding.
