24 years of itching gums! Can you explain it?

I dunno...Probably you should change a doctor or doctors, but everything in your post speaks for an infection. Specifically, if you remember this itching as long as you remember yourself, this infection could be inborn...

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Itchy gums for me too. 28 year old male. My uncle once saw me poking a pin into my gums (must have been 13 years old then) and took me to a dentist. He didn't find anything wrong. Mom has itchy gums too. At least now I can take a printout of this website to show my dentist.
I've found that not rinsing my mouth with water immediately after a meal, helps. Rinsing my mouth caused the itching to reappear. Friends noticed I don't rinse my mouth, and thought it was dirty. Now I just walk to a washbasin and pretend to rinse. To avoid bad breath and to get rid of excess food particles, I do gently let a bit of drinking water flow around my teeth. But rinsing my mouth thoroughly at the washbasin causes the gum itch to start off immediately.
I've also been using a toothpaste called Colgate Herbal, which does not cause any problem. Any other tooth paste caused itching. I'm not advertising for that toothpaste by the way. Just mentioning what helped. Even now, although I'm using that toothpaste, my gums are itching as I type this.
I've noticed that after chewing up some food item (like biscuts or rice), if I take the chewed up food with my tongue and place/rub it at the areas (such that the food gets pasted into the areas between the teeth) where it itches, the itching stops after a while. As a kid, I used to imagine it as feeding bacteria which if not fed, would start acting on my gums. Wonder if it really is that, because why else would the itching start if I rinsed my mouth completely?
Listrine etc never helped.

The itchy gums in my case aren't related to sinus problems at all. Itches at upper and lower jaws wherever there are molars.

After years of finding no relief to itchy gums (other than scratching) I have found that using a numbing mouth gel (like what people use for mouth ulcers) can offer some serious relief while the burning sensation goes down. I would seriosuly recommend this.

21 year old female here. I've had itchy gums for years and nobody knows why. The weird thing is, it is only one side of my mouth (both top and bottom) that is itchy at a time. It gets particularly itchy around the fangs. The itch isn't constant but comes and goes quite often. The dentist tells me that my hygiene is fine. I have no allergies (have seen allergists). Medications I am currently on: Effexor XR and Yaz oral contraceptives. The allergist I saw most recently believes that it may be a side effect of my birth control. However my doctor has never heard of this side effect. Who knows. Is anyone else out there on any of these medications? Or have this weird "wandering" itch?

What ever happened??? Mine is about to drive me insane- for the last 32 years I have suffered with this itch. Am I understanding your "itch" to be the same as mine? - a dull ache that drives you nuts until you apply pressure or poke it- and these actions feel euphoric, almost (forgive me) like an orgasm?-- that's the best way I know of to describe it. I want to know if your dentist ever was able to deaden the nerve. Please update us!!! -Itchy

I think I have found an answer to this or at least for me.  Several causes of this.  For me, I have isolated this down to low blood sugar and when I drink alot of diet pop with aspartame as it causes low blood sugar.  If you eat alot of carbs, are prediabetic, diabetic or drink alot of liquids with aspartame or artifical sugars, this may cause it due to lowering of blood sugar.  Chewing gum alleviated it for me at times (Due to sugar, artifical sweeteners, etc) as it would raise my blood sugar.  It took me along time to isolate this for myself, but that is the triggers this for me.  I hope this helps someone out there.

 

Yes, PLEASE update those of us with the same INSANE condition!!

I know how ALL of you feel-not sure what's worse...the incessant itching or the dismissive-off the cuff- remarks ALL of my dentists have made throughout my life. How illogical is it to tell me that the itching is caused by periodontal disease when I've suffered with this since I was a toddler and barely had any teeth then!PLUS-other than a few cavities-I've had excellent check ups all my life.

The gum tissue directly above both of my eye teeth has itched relentlessly for my entire life and I'm 50 years old!!! As a child my mother simply told me to rinse with salt water. This provided no relief of course.  My childhood dentist told me that what I had was herpetic lesions on the gums and that was what I was feeling. In point of fact, I had canker sores NOT herpetic lesions. However, the itching has never stopped, not for one minute, for my entire life...even when there were no canker sores present. As several other people have mentioned here, I've tried everything from salt water to scratching them with sharp fingernails and even straight, 100% undiluted, hydrogen peroxide. At 50 years old I now have huge notches in my gums exactly where the itching has always been due to all of the scratching, poking and injury I have caused over the years, in search of some kind of relief. Stupid dental hygienists and dentists have insisted that poor brushing techniques have caused the notched gums but when I explain the whole story they just laugh and say, "OK-if you say so!" patronizingly.

Any relief I've ever had has been fleeting and has lasted for up to an hour at most.There are times, like right now, that it's absolutely unbearable. It's times like this that I resort to scratching until they bleed and follow up with crushed aspirin and/or hydrogen peroxide. Both of these help for a short time...but then I'm back to square one again. At this point I've caused so much damage to my gums over my eye teeth that the entire roots are exposed.

I totally understand the remarks about cutting into the itching area...pain is far less annoying than this insane itching! I have no problem using any sharp object to poke and jab at the itchy areas and if they bleed, they bleed. NO ONE has offered ANY better advice throughout my lifetime and I'm convinced that none of these dentists have any clue what they're talking about when it comes to this issue. None at all.

As twisted as it sounds, it's been a relief to read that others have experienced this. I've felt like a freak my whole life and have long given up mentioning it to doctors/dentists. Any insight and/or suggestions are more than welcome!

There really is a definitive answer here, and if you are serious about addressing this problem I strongly encourage you to seek medical attention for your sinuses. The problem is not in the gums. It's the nerves, certainly, but something is irritating the nerves. The reason cutting into your gums helps is because you're interrupting the itchy sensation to the nerves with pain-- paun trumps itch-- and possibly even damaging the nerves.

But the problem IS sinuses. This happens to me when I have a cold. It's not from mucus dripping on your gums, either. It is nerve irritation from a sinus infection-- possibly pressure in the sinuses that is antagonizing the nerves.

If you're experiencing this outside of a cold, that doesn't mean it's not sinuses. You could have something wrong with your sinuses even without a cold. But I suggest seeing a doctor specifically about sinus problems. Lots of things can cause sinus pressure and it could be mild enough that you don't recognize it for what it is, even when it's causing your nerves to go crazy.

 

If you guys continue to go to your dentist about this, he's going to suggest a dental cause-- he doesn't know anything else. I'd try an ear nose and throat doctor.

 

I had an intense period of itchy gums daily for about five years. One would think that having been a  practicing dental hygienist for years, I would know of possible causes and a remedy.  Unfortunately, I had never heard of such symptoms, and when I asked my dentist, one of the best in the country, by the way, for restorative work, he had no idea what could be causing my problem.  My gums were healthy, but I do know this- with the unbearable itching and intense jiggling between my teeth with any implement that I could wedge in there, I began to get recession.  The areas that itched were symetrical in my mouth.  Specifically the areas were both right and left upper sides around the molar regions, from in front of my second premolars to behind my first molars.  I tell you, I would itch those gums like crazy with such an intensity that I think it even felt better than sex!  Because the recession got so bad, I went to see a periodontist. He recommended grafting tissue to recontour my gums, but the cost was more than I coud pay.  Thankfully the itching stopped and with that, the recession stopped too.  What I believed helped me, were two products that I found in a vitamin shop, Capryl and Sinu-Fix.  You see, I had itchy ears daily as well and I would twirl a Qtip in there but it never brought lasting relief.  I figured that I probably had candida in my ears and sinuses because I would sneeze if I ate anything with sugar, and yeast feeds on sugar.  Sure enough, when I treated myself for candida by eliminating all sugar and white bread and taking the capsules from the vitamin store, all itching stopped in about 6 weeks!  I've been itch free for years, take no pills but continue restricting sugar and bread to a bare minimum.  I don't think that anyone can imagine how agonizing this itching can be unless they personally experience it.  I thought I was alone in this until I read your stories, and now I know there are some people that can truely understand.

What always eases the sensation when gum itch when I have a cold is any HOT!! beverage. The fix is only very temporary but even for the slightest relief I drink hot tea

While I absolutely have appreciation for the good intentions of those who suggest things like sinus or allergies causing the itching; relief from topical numbing (Orajel etc.); relief from dietary/vitamin changes or supplements... I have to say with all due respect that if those things work for you...get down on your knees and thank GOD that you clearly do not know what we "extreme gum itch" sufferers are experiencing on here. I am thrilled for you if these things have helped for you and truly thank you for the suggestions. But for the select few on this thread who have this problem to the degree I am talking about, those solutions (for our level of distress) honestly are as effective as putting a bandaid on a severed limb in lieu of a tourniquet. This itch is so beyond anything that a change in diet, a topical solution, an antihistamine...anything short of a chainsaw violently slicing right down through the gums until it comes out the other side of your skull DOES NOT WORK!

I'm the one whose dentist has tried everything. Ya'll...I'm not even kidding. We even tried numbing the gum and I took a dental scraping tool and hacked away my gum and ripped it to shreds (if this sounds like Heaven to you....you have this to the same degree I do) thinking that perhaps we could just damage the *&^% out of the gum/nerves so that it would kill it. It only made it WORSE. The itching got so bad I almost came unglued.

My dentist tried shooting a laser down into the itchy spot to try to kill the sensation. Again, it made it worse.

Even just having my gums numbed actually makes it worse. When I got Novacaine injected, the gums got numb but the itching got so bad that before the dentist got back in the room, I got so desperate, I took out my earring and started jabbing it deep down into my numb ITCHING gum.

Those Xmas tree shaped brushes feel great...but all they do is make the gum bleed and then continue to itch worse than ever. I've punctured the gum and poured things down in it (peroxide, Listerine, hot water, Orajel, you name it) and it feels good for that moment but gives no long term relief.

Pressure or pulling the teeth apart feels so good (despite how much it hurts at the same time) that it literally causes me to drool. But it does not fix it. I'd have to KEEP pulling the teeth apart...as I used to do...which eventually caused me to crack on of the teeth.

I have flossed for 40+ years....bringing the floss down as deep as I possibly can and then ripping it sideways to essentially rip of the top part of the gum. It feels good at the moment but only makes the itching continue deeper than floss can ever reach.

I went to an acupuncturist and he even let me bring home so needles that were a little easier to inject into my gum and hammer in as deep as I could make them go. That felt good.But after the needle was removed, the itching got worse.

If I stick a pin into the gum, it feels good and yet also makes the itch worse at the same time. If I get the gum ripped up enough, then if I "knock" on my teeth (like knocking on a door), the vibration feels really good in a painful type of relief.

The last time I had my teeth cleaned, the hygienist scraped all along the bottom of the tooth deep down in the gum...even on the front, back, and the side of the tooth that does not itch. It helped longer than anything else ever has. But the itching still came back.

Antihistamines don't touch it. Different toothpastes don't make a difference. Excessive sugar (like after hitting the Xmas stocking or Easter basket) does seem to make it even more torturous than usual. But taking sugar out does not solve the problem.

I have decided that honestly, the only thing that has ever worked is to have NO contact with the gum whatsoever. I see the dentist religiously every 6 months and have always flossed, brushed, and had excellent oral hygiene. So for this past 6 months, I completely avoided flossing the spot that itches. I made myself not even TOUCH that spot. I was able to go the full 6 months without an "episode" but it was as difficult to not touch that spot on my gums as I imagine it would be to "will" your way out of a heroine addiction. It was a DAILY struggle not to touch that spot as I could just sense that tingling that was SCREAMING for a quick scratch. Today...after 6 months...I fell off the wagon and scraped between my teeth (where it itches) with floss. Now I am typing with a pushpin jabbed down into my gum and I am on the verge of hysteria.

So...what is it if even TOUCHING the skin is triggering this itching that is so severe that I would consider ripping out my teeth and hammering an ice pick into my gum a FANTASY?!!!!

My favorite "medical advice" thus far has been, "Just don't itch it."  Really??!!  Gee. Thanks for the brilliant insight. Why didn't I think of that? REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That brilliant advice is like telling a chain smoker, "just don't ligh the cigarette" or an enraged homicidal maniac, "just don't pull the trigger" or that insane family with 200 kids, "just don't get pregnant".  Or maybe it is like saying, "Well if you want your 8 month old to be potty trained, just tell him/her to use the restroom." REALLY?! REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYY?!!!!!

Ok...So if anyone finds out how to completely erase sensation deep enough to penetrate all levels of your skull and jaw...HELP US! PLEASE!

Hi all,

My last post was 1/7/13 when I had started an itch episode by touching my gum. It hasn't stopped and I am really getting frantic. I am giving up on the dental and periodontal professionals and I'm done with doctors that specialize in allergies, nerves, dermatology, or anything else. I have located a person who is apparently an expert and researcher on the science of ITCHING!!! I am so hopeful that she may actually have some idea what is causing this living Hell...or that she might want to take us on as some sort of research project that I am fighting the urge to do some sort of internet search and call her at home so I don't have to wait til Tuesday (after the MLK holiday) to try to reach her. If she thinks she can help or is interested in talking to others with this problem, I will let you all know who to contact. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED! I'll post back soon. :)

Very cool! I have finally gotten a referral to a periodontist, and will be doing dermatology rounds shortly!

Best of luck with those and of course I hope you find relief!!!! Just as an fyi to share my experience with periodontists and dermatologists (yes...plural...in 3 different states over 20+ years). They suggested it might be that weird stringy thing inside your mouth right above your front teeth and right below your bottom front teeth...I don't know what it's called but it is like it is connecting your lips/face to your mouth. (Sorry...I don't know how else to describe it.) Anyway, I have had several dentists and periodontists suggest cutting that in some manner because maybe it was pulling too tight or pulling on a nerve or something. I have not taken them up on this because when I pull my lip out really far until that stringy attachment thing starts to hurt, I can tell that it does not match up with the area in my gum that itches so much. I have also had many dentists/periodontists say that my jaw bone between my bottom 2 front teeth (that is where I have the horrible itch) is about a hairline short of having completely closed...so they theorized that maybe without the support of the closed jawbone that it was allowing the gum to sort of sag or something. My gut tells me that is not it primarily because I have the same itching, but to about 50% lesser degree, between my upper 2 front teeth and so that would mean my gums would have to sag "up". Also, there seem to be many people on this discussion board who have the itching in places other than the front 2 teeth and those are not (to my knowledge) places where the jawbone is ever separated and supposed to join. The only thing I THINK I have noticed with people who have the extreme itch is that it does seem to be symmetrical if they experience it in more than one spot. It could be top/bottom or left/right symmetrical. Is that the case with you?

As far as dermatologists--They have all told me it is a "nerve gone haywire" and they have no suggestions beyond Orajel and "don't touch it" which...as you know...are useless suggestions.

The acupuncturist said that he thought it was definitely an overly sensitive nerve but that there is nothing "wrong" so I should just ignore it. (He also asked me if I could please need acupuncture for at least one more symptom because he could not figure out what diagnosis to submit to my insurance for "relief of gum itch" :) )

Neurologists have ranged from shrugging their shoulders and literally saying, "I have no idea. Maybe you should ask your dentist or see a periodontist" to "It sounds like a nerve, but locating it would be next to impossible and even if we found it, treating it would risk paralyzing part of your face."

I have also spoken with an allergist and tried antihistamines as well as dietary restrictions (sugars, carbs, certain food additives) and also changes in toothpastes and other oral hygiene products. None of those made any difference.

Personally, I'm thinking a butcher with a really sharp cleaver is the next specialist I will consult with if the itch expert can't help. Gotta go hammer the pin in my gum a little deeper...the effect of how deep it is currently has worn off. :)

HOPE YOU GET YOUR SITUATION FIXED! Please let us know either way!!!