Spiritual Reasons for Gum Disease

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth

What is the spiritual meaning of gum disease

As a holistic oral health coach, working with hundreds of clients from all over the world for nearly a decade, I’ve observed some common themes in the emotional, psychological, energetic, ancestral and environmental lives of people with similar kinds of gum issues.

Communication between our subconscious and our physical body is often in a symbolic and metaphorical. The main physiological role of gums is to hold our teeth in place and support them to be strong and straight. This can be understood as a symbol of your access to or awareness of support in other areas of your life.

For example, if you feel like you don’t have support from your family to achieve your goals then you might experience bone loss and gum recession. Or if you have a pattern of dishonesty with your spouse you might develop a deep gum pocket around tooth 21 (lower left first premolar).

How are gums affected by emotions?

I’ve coached many clients who have been able to stabilize, reverse and even completely recover from receding gums and gum disease. This has happened with proactive, intensive personalised protocols which include working with the metaphysical associations of each individual’s particular expressions of gum symptoms.

Physical symptoms for gum disease are influenced by metaphysical factors at the cellular level. The behavior of our gum cells is guided by proteins which carry information, not only from physical influences such as nutrition and environment but also from our subconscious thoughts and emotions.

How to make sense of gum symptoms?

The success that my clients have had with healing their gums relies on specific, detailed and personal interpretations of their symptoms.

The metaphysical associations for gum problems found in Louise Hay’s Heal Your Life, Evette Rose’s Metaphysical Anatomy or Inna Segal’s The Secret Language of Your Body are not wrong… I just find them too generic to be genuinely useful.

In my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth I introduced a range of systems for interpreting oral health problems, mostly by mapping the location of symptoms inside your mouth. All of these systems can potentially be applied to gums as well as teeth, plus I shared my own unique framework on the type of gum tissue affected by the symptoms.

What is the first step to understanding gums?

If you want to really understand and usefully respond to your gum issues you need to work out which type of gum tissue is most affected. The metaphysical gum framework which I developed through my coaching work encompasses four main types of gum tissue commonly affected by symptoms.

Click through to read an in depth discussion of each type of tissue and the meaning of its typical symptoms.

Gingiva, which is the visible pink wet surface of the gum, the location of bleeding gums, gingivits or inflammation is associated with shame, sexuality and the alignment of your public persona with your authentic identity.

Cementum, the connective fibers lost when gum pockets develop between tooth roots and gums, is affected by unacknowledged feelings, the security of your energetic boundaries and dishonesty.

Periodontal ligament is associated with your ability to adapt to changing circumstances with grace. Thinning or sagging gums might indicate that you aren’t able to advocate for yourself or feel worthy of support.

Alveolar bone, the part of the jaw which forms tooth sockets and supports soft gum tissues represents the material support available to you and your inner strength. Gum recession caused by bone loss may embody feeling you aren’t well supported.

Mapping as the next step to understanding gums

To get an even deeper understanding of your gum issues, you can cross reference your symptoms by their location within your mouth.

First make note of where exactly did your gum problems start?

Where did it spread to next and where is it located now?

If symptoms have been, or still are, localized, note which teeth are closest?

Is one quadrant of the mouth more or less affected than other quadrants?

Then apply one or more of the mouth mapping frameworks from The Secret Lives of Teeth to the gum tissue interpretations:

For gum pockets or any symptoms specific to one or two teeth, start with tooth archetypes.

For symptoms specific to top or bottom, left or right, front or back, start with the quadrants framework.

For symptoms located around the mouth but concentrated near just incisors or just molars or just canines etc, start with the tooth types framework or the mouth meridians framework.

For gum recession, check out the cervical surfaces interpretations in the tooth surfaces framework.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

The Secret Lives of Teeth is a clear and comprehensive guide teaches you a unique, complementary self-help approach to easing toothaches, enhancing enamel and gum remineralization and getting better results with necessary dental treatments.

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

Physical remedies

The physical and the metaphysical sit side by side. It is not enough to focus only on the spiritual, emotional or psychological aspects of healing your gums.

There are physical influences causing gum disease as well, though its usually blamed on not flossing enough but that is too simple an explanation. After all, plenty of people never floss and yet have healthy gums.

Gums do react well to being clean, but they are undermined by aggressive hygiene techniques such as rough flossing, hard bristled toothbrushes and careless dental hygienist treatments. Gums are very sensitive to toxins and traumas so it’s important to clean our gums thoroughly yet gently.

A good balance of minerals in our diet may be the most important factor in gum health. The modern food system is so depleted of nutrients, especially minerals that even people on a healthy, whole foods diet may not be getting enough minerals to sustain their gums through the challenges of life.

Gums are also very responsive to tension in our jaw, so keeping a relaxed jaw plays a big role in gum health.

How energy can help heal your gums

When I first started natural oral health coaching I only ‘knew’ that mainstream dentists say receding gums cannot regrow naturally.

But I’d also ‘known’ that teeth can’t regrow cavities naturally; and that ‘fact’ turned out to be wrong. In fact, it turns out that cavities are often the easiest oral health problems to fix.

That’s why, when some of my clients wanted to try regrowing their gums I was willing to put my best effort into supporting them with research and collaborative experimentation.

I would warn: ‘I don’t know if you can regrow your gums but at the very least these holistic strategies should stabilize them’.

Then, as we saw the first hints of regrowth beginning to appear, I started accepting more clients who wanted to regrow their gums. Everything I learned about healing and regrowing gums is from lived experience of coaching people to healthier gums.

If you are doing all the physical remedies right and nothing’s really changing, or it’s getting worse, then it generally means that you aren’t responding metaphysically to what your gums are telling you.

The metaphysical message behind the physical symptoms is just as important, if not more important, than anything physical that we can do to care for our gums.

Metaphysical healing is not necessarily easy work. In many ways it is much more comfortable to go to a periodontal surgeon and pay many thousands of dollars for painful gum surgery. There’s lots of people who would rather have surgery than have to acknowledge that they don’t feel supported, that they don’t really trust people around them or are suppressing anger and resentment.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

Listen to your teeth: Mapping the metaphysical messages from your mouth is a FREE online masterclass (all value, no fluff) that will teach you how to make sense of what your teeth and gums want you to know.

In this FREE Masterclass you’ll get:

metaphysical maps of your mouth
a manifesto for metaphysical healing
a guided visualisation to listen to your teeth
healing with metaphysical messages

Watch the Masterclass FREE

What are tooth archetypes?

Lizzie's tooth archetypes As a natural oral health coach who helps people all around the world to avoid unnecessary dental procedures and have better experiences with the necessary ones. A few years ago I worked with a client I’ll call Lizzie. She was in her 70s when...

Spiritual Reasons for Gum Disease

What is the spiritual meaning of gum disease As a holistic oral health coach, working with hundreds of clients from all over the world for nearly a decade, I've observed some common themes in the emotional, psychological, energetic, ancestral and environmental lives...

Understanding bone loss [Meaning of gum issues-Part 4]

If you have been diagnosed with bone loss you are probably worried about the future of your teeth. You may have been told that bone loss is irreversible and there's nothing you can do to stop it except a bone graft or other invasive treatments with uncertain outcomes....

Understanding bone loss [Meaning of gum issues-Part 4]

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth

If you have been diagnosed with bone loss you are probably worried about the future of your teeth. You may have been told that bone loss is irreversible and there’s nothing you can do to stop it except a bone graft or other invasive treatments with uncertain outcomes.

However, a holistic approach which includes working with the metaphysical themes of the alveolar bone can help you to respond in a more positive and empowered way. My work as a natural oral health coach has shown me that bone loss doesn’t have to mean an inevitable decline.

First, let’s look at your jaw bone in the context of other kinds of gum tissue.

How to interpret gum symptoms

There are four main types of gum tissue, gingiva, periodontal ligaments, cementum, and alveolar bone. Each type of tissue can present particular symptoms and are open to specific interpretations.

This is the last article in a four-part series about metaphysical interpretations for gum problems based on the approach to interpreting gum symptoms that I originally described in my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.

The first article in the series focuses on gingiva and symptoms on the surface of the gums such as bleeding and inflammation. The second article is about periodontal ligament and thinning gums. The third article is about cementum and gum pockets, This article focuses on the alveolar bone and bone loss.

What causes bone loss

Bone loss is a thinning of jaw bone density or mass. Bone loss can make tooth roots loose, causing teeth to move around in the mouth or even fall out. It’s a fairly common problem for older people, but sometimes it can start early in young adults.

Bone can be lost to the most advanced stages of periodontitis, a form of gum disease. Bone mass and density can also be reduced by mineral deficiencies or osteoporosis.

Bone loss sometimes follow a tooth extraction although in such cases it might takes years to develop. The bone loss can eventually spread out from an extraction gap to undermine adjacent teeth.

Advanced bone loss can eventually lead to a hollow cheeked, thin lipped appearance associated with multiple missing teeth, once there is no longer enough jaw bone to support the face’s soft tissues.

What is the alveolar bone

The part of your jaw bone first, and worst, affected by periodontal disease and bone loss is called the alveolar bone. Alveolar bone is a thin ridge of jawbone that surrounds each tooth with a delicate yet strong bony socket.

The physical purpose of the alveolar bone is to be a foundation that supports tooth roots to stand firm and straight.

Metaphysical meaning of bone loss

Metaphysically, bone loss may be an embodiment of feeling unsupported by family, friends or institutions in your life, perhaps even an existential sense that the Universe or God isn’t really supporting you.

This can look like loneliness, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed or struggling with financial insecurity.

It can feel like being unable to trust significant people (or anyone) to have your best interests at heart.

It might be a sense that your society doesn’t support your wellbeing or even existence, because of economic injustice, systemic racism, homophobia or other prejudice.

Sudden bone loss

When acute bone loss comes on suddenly, your gums may be responding to a current or recent job loss, relationship break-up or social isolation. From this perspective it’s not surprising that I’ve heard of many people reporting bone loss that was diagnosed since 2020, a year which was in some ways defined by social isolation.

Early onset bone loss

On the other hand, chronic or early onset bone loss may indicate that you didn’t feel well supported by your parents when you were a kid. It’s really common for my oral health coaching clients who had bone loss starting in their 20s to have grown up with some degree of neglect or abuse.

One woman described growing up as a middle child in a big immigrant family where both her parents worked long hours in multiple businesses.

She was more or less raised by not-much-older siblings. Although they had enough financial stability to always be fed, clothed and educated, she didn’t receive much attention or nurturing in the hurley burley of her family.

She became estranged from her parents and siblings as a teen. As a young mother in her 20s of two young children left her feeling isolated, overwhelmed and anxious. That’s when she was first diagnosed with periodontal disease and bone loss which progressed for many years before she started working with me.

Reversing bone loss

The most obvious cause of bone loss might be losing one or more teeth. Whether and how that gap is filled (e.g. an implant) can have a very direct affect on alveolar bone.

Mineral deficiencies, hormones and oesteoporosis can play a role too. However, bone loss is also influenced by what you eat or drink, your oral posture, bite and jaw tension.

Underlying all of those physical causes are the energetic, emotional, psychological, ancestral and environmental influences which play a huge role in your vulnerability to the physical resaons for bone loss.

Make a note of where in your mouth the bone loss begins and where it spreads to next. If it starts with a single tooth, cross reference bone loss interpretations with the archetype of the tooth which is missing.

For more generalized bone loss, look up the meaning of the quadrant which is first or most affected to help you fine tune the bone loss interpretation by

Often the diagnosis of bone loss can feel like (and be presented as) an inevitable, irreversible choice between surgery or losing the rest of your teeth. However, many of my gum-healing coaching clients have succeeded in stopping the advancement of bone loss at home without surgery.

Some have been able to increase their bone density, stabilize loose teeth and even see slight increases in alveolar bone mass by applying intensive regenerative protocols which combine physical and metaphysical healing strategies.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

In this FREE Masterclass you’ll get:

metaphysical maps of your mouth
a manifesto for metaphysical healing
a guided visualisation to listen to your teeth
healing with metaphysical messages

Watch the Masterclass FREE

Has a dentist told you that your cavities or receding gums are your fault because you are drinking too much Coke, you don’t floss enough or you need to stop breastfeeding your baby? And you know that isn’t true!

I’m a natural oral health coach and I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

I can help you to turn your oral health around with natural strategies, healthy habits and intuitive insights.

Work with me

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There are four types of gum tissue, gingiva, periodontal ligament, cementum and alveolar bone. Each type of tissue plays a particular physiological role in the anatomy of the mouth. From my perspective as a holistic oral health coach, symptoms in each type of gum...

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If you've ever looked up the energetic meaning of any kind of gum problem in Louise Hay's classic book, You can heal your life, you will have read that gum symptoms indicate... indecision.Sure, that's a catchy slogan for understanding the spiritual meaning of...

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CW: The following article about lost twins includes mention of miscarriage and stillbirth. Be kind to yourself if this is a sensitive topic for you. A lost twin and or vanished triplets may be more common than most people suspect. Some, like Elvis Presley, got to...

The truth about gum pockets [Meaning of gum issues- Part 3]

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth

There are four types of gum tissue, gingiva, periodontal ligament, cementum and alveolar bone. Each type of tissue plays a particular physiological role in the anatomy of the mouth.

From my perspective as a holistic oral health coach, symptoms in each type of gum tissue may embody a different kind of emotional or psychological adaption to trauma or stress in your past or present.

This is the third instalment in my four part series about the metaphysical interpretations for different kinds of gum problems that I originally described in my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.

This article introduces a couple of possible messages to be found from gum pockets affecting the cementum layer of gum tissue.

As with any metaphysical discussion of oral health, this information should be considered as complementary to physical explanations, rather than as alternative recommendations.

If you choose to work with any of these ideas, please use your common sense and also seek support from a periodontal or dental professional.

What is cementum?

Cementum is a type of gum tissue that connects the tooth root to the inside of the gums. It is made up of microscopic sticky threads that extend from the mass of periodontal ligaments.

Cementum is what makes a tight binding between gum and tooth in a healthy mouth. I like to visualize healthy cementum like a lush lawn of thick short grass that is irresistible to walk on with bare feet.

What are gum pockets?

Gum pockets appear when the cementum is damaged. When you hear your dentist or periodontist calling out numbers as they probe the gum against each tooth, they are measuring gum pocket depth.

As more cementum erodes, gum pockets get deeper, which can contribute to gum recession and destabilize teeth.

Much like the pockets of my gardening clothes which seem to collect loose soil and wilted leaves, gum pockets accumulate leftover food and grow bacteria. As long as gum pockets are collecting gunk, it’s difficult for cementum to regrow.

How cementum gets damaged

Cementum fibers can be easily broken by rough brushing, the carelessness of a distracted hygienist or by a deep periodontal cleaning. Paradoxically, you may need to damage some cementum to clean out your gum pockets enough to be able to regrow all your cementum. It’s your job to keep the pockets clean between hygienist appointments so that they don’t need to dig so deep next time.

Cementum’s fine fibers are especially vulnerable while they are recovering from earlier damage. In my mind’s eye, I see them regrowing like the sparse and delicate first shoots of a freshly seeded lawn. Like new grass, which is so much more vulnerable than an established lawn, regrowing cementum needs extreme care with how you brush and use a water flosser.

Interpreting gum pockets

Metaphysically, cementum may embody the emotional effects of dishonesty. It could be someone else’s lies, your own inauthentic behaviour or even unconscious emotions that you don’t acknowledge to yourself, let alone talk about or act upon more publicly.

The state of your cementum may represent the security of your energetic boundaries. Gum pockets might embody challenges you face in protetcting yourself from unreasonable expectations or narcissistic demands.

Tooth archetype x gum pocket

When a gum pocket opens up around a certain tooth it may reflect conscious or unconscious dishonesty in relation to that tooth’s archetype.

This interpretation often makes the most sense when the tooth has had a root canal or implant, and then the gum subsequently starts to develop a pocket. The dental restoration was intended to deal with the physical symptom but did not address the underlying energetic influence which remains embodied in that part of the mouth. Now that archetypal theme is expressing through the cementum rather than the tooth.

Supporting your cementum

Gum problems rarely have a single cause, and may not occur in isolation from other oral health or general health issues. The best way to close gum pockets and regrow cementum is with a combination of metaphysical and physical strategies.

Cementum thrives with the right balance of mineral- rich, nutrient-dense foods along with oral posture exercises which strengthen the tissues.

Those kinds of physical home remedies are often more effective when you also address the underlying emotional and energetic needs being expressed through your gums.

When you have a gum pocket, make a note of which tooth is closest to your gum pocket(s). Look up the archetype description for that tooth in my book The Secret Lives of Teeth..

Consider how honest you are in relation to the archetype’s issues, either with others or with yourself. If that doesn’t resonate for you, think about how the relationships represented by that archetype may have been affected by another party’s dishonesty.

A multifaceted holistic approach can help to slow, stop and even reverse your gum pockets over time. Explore these questions honestly with whatever therapeutic approach works best for you at the same time as you care for your gum pockets physically.

In my work as a natural oral health coach, I see many people who are able stabilize their gum pockets between one dental visit and the next. With consistent effort, some people can reduce their gum pockets by half their depth or more within a year or two.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

I’m a natural oral health coach and I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

I can help you to turn your oral health around with natural strategies, healthy habits and intuitive insights.

Work with me

Listen to your teeth

In this FREE Masterclass you’ll get:

metaphysical maps of your mouth
a manifesto for metaphysical healing
a guided visualisation to listen to your teeth
healing with metaphysical messages

Watch the Masterclass FREE

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by Meliors Simms | January 21, 2026 | Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth | 0 Comments

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What thinning gums are telling you [Meaning of gum issues – Part 2]

by Meliors Simms | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth

If you’ve ever looked up the energetic meaning of any kind of gum problem in Louise Hay’s classic book, You can heal your life, you will have read that gum symptoms indicate… indecision.

Sure, that’s a catchy slogan for understanding the spiritual meaning of gums, but gums are physically and metaphysically more complicated than that simple phrase suggests! It also has never resonated with most of my coaching clients with gum issues. The truth is, there are myriad ways gums can go wrong, and many nuanced interpretations for those symptoms.

What do your gum symptoms mean?

There are four main types of gum tissue, gingiva, periodontal ligaments, cementum, and alveolar bone. Each type of tissue can present particular symptoms and are open to specific interpretations.

This is the second article in a four-part series about metaphysical interpretations for gum problems based on the approach to interpreting gum recession, bone loss and other gum symptoms that I originally described in my book, The Secret Lives of Teeth: Understanding emotional influences on oral health.

The first article focused on gingiva and symptoms on the surface of the gums such as bleeding and inflammation. The third article is about cementum and gum pockets, The fourth article is about alveolar bone and bone loss. This article focuses on periodontal ligaments and thinning or saggy gums.

What are periodontal ligaments

Periodontal ligaments are strong stretchy fibers that surround each tooth root like a sling that softens the impact of chewing and biting. When they are healthy, the ligaments provide padding between the tooth root and the thin alveolar bone of the tooth socket.

Physically, the ligaments are more dynamic than cushions though, as they absorb and distribute impacts like a car’s suspension.

Metaphysically, the periodontal ligaments provide an energetic buffer against shocking pressures from the outside world.

What periodontal ligaments are saying

Problems with your periodontal ligaments tend to show up as saggy, receding or thinning gums, although the ligaments can also be affected by inflammation and infection.

Like almost all oral health issues, the ligaments’ symptoms relate to self-expression. Periodontal ligaments may represent your capacity to communicate effectively and use appropriate language for whatever context you find yourself in.

Adapting with grace

It’s not uncommon for periodontal ligaments to weaken when you have to adapt yourself to changing circumstances. As a natural oral health coach, I’ve noticed that many of my clients with periodontal ligament issues come from immigrant families, or have immigrated themselves as adults.

Others have left the strict church they were raised in and learned to get along in a secular lifestyle. Both kinds of experiences meant that they’ve had to navigate some significant challenges of adapting to a culture that’s vastly different from how they were raised.

Feeling worthy of support

Thinning gums could also embody situations when you have been unable to advocate effectively for your own interests. Loose gums can be understood as the physical expression of an ongoing, perhaps unconscious, belief that you don’t feel worthy of support.

One of the ways I’ve observed this is with some of my BIPoC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color) clients with thinning gums who grew up (or still live) in overtly racist communities. Their symptoms can be understood as a physical embodiment of internalized racism such as an incessant erosion of their sense of self by microaggressions and the necessity of constant code switching.

This applies to people with other kinds of marginalized identities who have learned to live with systemic oppression. If you have to constantly tolerate disrespect, exclusion and invisibility, it can wear out your belief that you deserve better. This kind of trauma can be embodied as periodontal ligaments that stretched until they lose elasticity.

Supporting your periodontal ligaments

Gum problems rarely have a single cause, and may not occur in isolation from other oral health or general health issues. The best way to help stabilize and reverse thinning or sagging gums is with a combination of metaphysical and physical strategies.

Periodontal ligaments thrive with the right balance of mineral- rich, nutritient-dense foods along with oral posture exercises which strengthen the tissues.

Those kinds of physical home remedies are often more effective when you also address the underlying emotional and energetic needs being expressed through your gums.

A multifaceted holistic approach can help to heal your periodontal ligaments over time: stabilizing and reversing recession, tightening soft swollen gums, and providing stability for teeth without surgical interventions.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

I’m a natural oral health coach and I’m not going to blame you or shame you.
The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

I can help you to turn your oral health around with natural strategies, healthy habits and intuitive insights.

Work with me

What are tooth archetypes?

by Meliors Simms | January 21, 2026 | Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth | 0 Comments

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by Meliors Simms | January 20, 2026 | Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth | 0 Comments

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by Meliors Simms | January 12, 2026 | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth | 0 Comments

The truth about gum pockets [Meaning of gum issues- Part 3]

by Meliors Simms | January 9, 2026 | Cure Gum Disease, Metaphysical gums, Metaphysical Teeth | 0 Comments

What thinning gums are telling you [Meaning of gum issues – Part 2]

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As with any metaphysical discussion of oral health, this information should be considered as complementary (rather than alternative) to physical explanations. If you choose to follow any of these ideas, please use your common sense and also seek support from a periodontal or dental professional.

Mapping your gums

The health of the whole mouth is susceptible to what I call the ‘3 S’s’: secrets, silences and suppressed emotions. When you don’t express the thoughts and feelings that need to be acknowledged, distorted emotions seem to get trapped in the mouth, probably because its the body’s primary means of expression.

I often use a mapping approach to help tease out the particularities and nuances of a individual’s personal oral health challenges. The mapping metaphors of tooth archetypes and mouth meridians easily apply to different types of teeth and adjacent areas of gum.

However, when gum problems are widespread rather than localized, another kind of mapping system is needed. My metaphysical map of the gums is more like a cross section which goes deep through layers of gum tissue.

Gum symtoms can make more sense by looking at the type of gum tissue which is symptomatic.

My metaphysical gum map describes four main types of gum tissue: gingiva, periodontal ligaments, cementum and alveolar bone.

Each type of tissue plays a physiological role in the mouth which can be seen as parallel to psychological roles so that symptoms in these tissues may embody emotional or psychological adaptions to stressors.

Meet your gingiva

In this article I’ll introduce the gingiva, which is the surface layer of your gum, the part of your gums you can see and touch.

When gingiva is healthy it’s an even pink color, wet and firm to the touch (like skin over flesh).

It’s home to a diverse microbiome of bacteria and other microbes that can vary according to their location the mouth, as well as your lifestyle and history.

Gingiva is very sensitive, thin and permeable. It’s role is to protect and contain the nerves, blood vessels, lymph, facia, muscles and bone of the jaws.

Blood vessels are concentrated very close to gingiva’s surfacealong with a very dense concentration of nerves which makes your gums feel exquisitely sensitive.

Sypmtoms experienced with the gingiva can include bleeding gums, inflammation, swelling and gum recession.

Gingiva and inauthenticity

Metaphysically, there are two main themes represented by symptoms with the gingiva. The first relates to the authenticity of the image you present to the world.

Your gingiva can embody the emotional impact of not being seen as your true self.

It’s an issue that I’ve returned to again and again with clients of all ages who look back with regret for not speaking their true thoughts or for hiding some important aspect of their authentic identity.

This self-concealment inevitably started as a survival strategy in childhood. But by the time the gums start protesting, usually in adulthood, the habit of hiding your identity has usually outlived its usefulness.

Exploring what it means to express yourself authentically can be a powerfully joyful process. I delight in witnessing my clients overcome old habits of resistance, because this time they are motivated by the desire to heal their gums. Barriers to self-expression which have caused frustration in other therapeutic contexts seem easier to dissolve as part of a gum-healing project.

Sexuality and your gingiva

Heads up: The following paragraphs include mention of pornography and sexual abuse. Skip to the next heading if you don’t want to read about those issues right now.

The other main theme I’ve observed with gingiva symptoms is feeling out of balance with your sexuality. The link between gums and sex may reflect how similar gingiva’s sensitive membrane is to the delicate skin of genitals.

It’s really common for gingiva to embody shame relating to sex, which unfortunately many people feel in response to a wide variety of sexual desires and experiences.

Gingiva seems very vulnerable to feeling like your sexual urges are out of your control, especially when you act on them in ways that keep you isolated and ashamed.

For example, I’ve worked with several men with gingivitis symptoms who experienced their use of pornography as problematic. Porn use wasn’t the direct cause of their gum problems, but rather the emotions suppressed by disassociation and then shame.

As these men became more in touch with their feelings and free from their addictive behaviour with porn, they noticed that their gums were bleeding only days when they did indulge. Eventually they were able to stop their gums bleeding, relieve inflammation and pause gum recession (in part) by changing their relationship with pornography.

Issues with gingiva also seem to show up for some people who have been sexually abused in the past, even if it’s something they have ‘worked through’ in therapy. The reverberations of those traumatic experiences though out your life and later relationships can show up as gingiva symptoms for both men and women.

Listening to what the gingiva can reveal allows another layer of healing towards full expression of your authentic inner truth. Both women and men who have been sexually abused as children or teens have been able to support their gums by releasing shame and secrecy.

Supporting your gingiva

Gums are multi-layered complex combinations of bone, ligament and mucus membrane. They respond to all kinds of influences including what you eat or drink and how you floss and brush; as well as how you feel, what you think or how stressed you are.

Next time you notice your gums bleeding or other gingiva symptoms, ask yourself whether you’ve been recently been inauthentic in your self expression or out of balance with your sexuality. Working with these ideas may help your delicate, sensitive gingival tissues to become stronger, pinker and more resilient.

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Learn how to interpret the metaphysical messages of your teeth and gum symptoms!

Available as a paperback or ebook.

Read The Secret Lives of Teeth

I’m Meliors Simms, a natural oral health coach and I’m not going to blame you or shame you.

The underlying causes of your oral health issues are not your fault!

Nature or nurture, ancestry or environment, free will or systemic oppression, unconscious emotions or the degraded food system are the factors that make your teeth and gums vulnerable to disease.

Even though your tooth decay and gum disease is not your fault, it is within your power to change.

I can help you to turn your oral health around with natural strategies, healthy habits and intuitive insights.

Work with me

Listen to your teeth

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metaphysical maps of your mouth
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What is the spiritual meaning of gum disease

How are gums affected by emotions?

How to make sense of gum symptoms?

What is the first step to understanding gums?

Mapping as the next step to understanding gums

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Physical remedies

How energy can help heal your gums

Further reading

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

How to interpret gum symptoms

What causes bone loss

What is the alveolar bone

Metaphysical meaning of bone loss

Sudden bone loss

Early onset bone loss

Reversing bone loss

Further reading

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

What is cementum?

What are gum pockets?

How cementum gets damaged

Interpreting gum pockets

Tooth archetype x gum pocket

Supporting your cementum

Further reading

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

What do your gum symptoms mean?

What are periodontal ligaments

What periodontal ligaments are saying

Adapting with grace​

Feeling worthy of support

Supporting your periodontal ligaments

Further reading

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Mapping your gums

Meet your gingiva

Gingiva and inauthenticity

Sexuality and your gingiva

Supporting your gingiva

Further reading

The Secret Lives of Teeth

Listen to your teeth

About the Holistic Tooth Fairy

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