Kelly Ripa has come clean about the incredibly common “good” habit that’s actually not so good after all — and led her to require a pretty painful surgery.
Late last month, the star took some time off from “Live with Kelly and Mark,” with her husband and co-host Mark Consuelos revealing that she had a gum graft procedure.
Now Ripa, 55, has revealed what she did that made the surgery a must, with doctors having to “re-gum my gums.”
“I brush my teeth too much,” she admitted on an episode of her podcast, “Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa.”
“It’s a good bad habit. I’ve caused gum recession down here, specifically.”
She’s not alone. One survey found that 13% of people over-brush their teeth by scrubbing for twice as long as recommended.
This can lead to gum recession, a form of gum disease. This is when the gum pulls back from the teeth, making them more sensitive to pain and vulnerable to infection.
What is gum grafting?
Because gums can’t grow back on their own, Ripa had tissue taken from the roof of her mouth to rebuild the gums she lost through brushing. This option has the benefit of offering predictable results, but the downside of opening up two surgery sites inside your mouth.
In a gum graft, a periodontist will stitch the new tissue into place, and depending on how extensive the surgery was, patients may be back to normal in two weeks.
Consuelos said it was clear this was pretty painful for his wife.
“She famously doesn’t feel pain,” he said. “When she goes to the dentist, she doesn’t use the novocaine. But this one hurts, so I know it’s bad.”
She also wasn’t able to talk for 10 days following the surgery.
Good habits that can lead to gum issues
Gum health is serious business. While the most immediate effects of bad gum health might be things like bleeding and pain in the mouth, it can also have pervasive effects around the body.
Bacteria can enter the bloodstream through weakened gums, increasing risk of heart attacks and stroke, plus make diabetes harder to control because of chronic inflammation. It can also increase risk of respiratory infections like pneumonia and even affect the brain, increasing risk of Alzheimer‘s.
Not brushing enough can definitely cause these gum issues — but brushing too much can do the same.
Brushing more often, for longer, with more force or harder bristles don’t necessarily make your teeth “cleaner” — and in fact can have serious impacts on your gums and the enamel on your teeth.
It’s why softer bristled toothbrushes were put on the market, and dentists recommend brushing for a lot longer (two minutes) than the average person does — only 37 seconds, dentist Dr. Joy Poskozim previously told The Post.
“Starting in the 1950s, softer nylon toothbrush bristles were being created by toothbrush makers like Colgate,” she said. “[But] there are some people to this day that prefer a medium-hardness toothbrush to the soft-bristled brushes.”
If you really want bristles that feel a bit firmer, Poskozim recommends an electric toothbrush like the one by Sonicare.
“The bristles are soft and the toothbrush is timed for two minutes — so they are brushing longer and, even though the bristles are soft, it feels like a ‘harder’ brush,” she said.
It’s not just your gums: harder bristles can wear down enamel and actually make teeth appear more brown, and have structural effects like brittleness near the gumline.
