Gums
Bleeding, receding, and the line between fixable and permanent.
The Pain Is Usually the Diagnosis
Not much, and if it does that is usually information rather than technique. What hurts during a cleaning tells you what state your gums were in beforehand.
It Hides the Warning Sign
It hides the disease while making it worse. Smokers' gums bleed less, not more, which removes the only warning sign most people ever get.
Two Weeks Is the Line for a Mouth Sore
Two weeks is the line, and almost nobody knows it. Here are the four questions a dentist asks about a mouth sore, and the one place on the tongue they never wait on.
A Real Treatment and a Favorite Upsell
A deep cleaning is scaling and root planing, a real treatment for a real disease. It is also the most upsold procedure in dentistry. Both are true at once.
The Cause Is Usually Effort, Not Neglect
Usually because of something the person was doing carefully. Hard brushing and jaw clenching are the two commonest causes, and gum doesn't grow back.
Healthy Gums Do Not Bleed
Because they are inflamed, not because the floss is cutting them. Which means the answer is to floss more rather than stop, and a dentist explains why.
Your Gums Can Heal. Up to a Point.
Stage one is bleeding gums and it goes away completely. Stage two takes bone with it and never comes back. The line between them is thinner than anyone tells you.