gums look bruised around old crown, but don't hurt
I'm hoping someone can explain what's going on in my mouth. Not afraid of the dentist, but broke, with no insurance!
A couple of days ago I noticed that the gum surrounding a gold crown has changed color to look like a bruise - greyish purple. There's not pain or swelling, though. My gums are healthy in general otherwise. What could be causing this, and should I be concerned? Is there ever a chemical reaction to the gold itself that would just cause discoloration?
I looked through a whole year of postings and the couple of questions I found that sounded like something similar weren't answered, so that's making me nervous.
Thanks so much for any insight.
is the crown receeding? if so, the food may be getting inside the crown and causing a problem and the gums are being affected. not sure what the problem is. have you noticed a space between the gum and crown that food could get into?
No, the crown seems normal, and I don't think there are any spaces between the crown and gum. Except for the color, the gums seem the same as the gums around all my other teeth.
the reason i asked is because i had receeding crowns and sometimes the gums would look wierd like you described. hopefully others will have answers for you.
Thanks for responding. I hope your appointment turns out well. I'd be really interested to hear. That tattooing effect sounds like it could be what I have, but I wonder why it took years for it to show up..
Pinkcat, thanks for your input. Maybe the color change is happening first, before the receding in my case, don't know. Sure hard to make myself go to the dentist when it doesn't hurt.
OK, today the endo confirmed what my DDS said, which is that the bluish-black area on my gum under that gold crown is a stain caused by the chemicals they used to place the crown reacting with the amalgam underneath and the gold alloy of the crown. Apparently it can take years to develop, or never develop at all. Some people, like me and maybe you longoftooth, are sensitive to the chemicals. The sensitivity is simialr to getting a stain on your finger from silver or other metal jewelry. With the jewelry of course you just remove it and eventually the stain goes away. Guess we're stuck with our "dental tattoos."
gums look bruised around old crown, but don't hurt 
