Do I have gingivitis?!
Question: My teeth don't hurt, but only when i floss on my bottom set of teeth in the front.
It starts to bleed a little, but not a lot.
What is this?
And I saw my dentist last week, she didn't say anything about gingivitis. She only said I need to floss every day, or my gums will get worse or something.
She said I brushed well though.
What's wrong?
And I'm 14.
Answers: My teeth don't hurt, but only when i floss on my bottom set of teeth in the front.
It starts to bleed a little, but not a lot.
What is this?
And I saw my dentist last week, she didn't say anything about gingivitis. She only said I need to floss every day, or my gums will get worse or something.
She said I brushed well though.
What's wrong?
And I'm 14.
its normal for gums to bleed a little bit, espcially if you are flossing incorrectly or too rough. What you want to do is make a little C shape around the side of the tooth you are flossing on and gently bring the floss up and down, making sure not to push too hard into your gums. If you keep flossing, the bleeding may eventually go away. Most of the population has gingivitis anyway, but if you brush twice a day and floss once a day it will be mild. The small amount of bleeding is not a problem.
I would say that you have very mild gingivitis and that is nothing to worry about. At age 14 you are going through hormonal changes and that affects the gingiva and causes bleeding and inflammation. It is probably nothing to worry about but you definitely want to prevent gingivitis as best as you can. Work on the flossing method explained above and floss every day. Many people do not realize how important flossing is and it will definitely help!