Importance of Flossing
Your gums bleed when you floss because your gums are not healthy. I’ll tell you a typical clinical scenario which happens in my rooms all the time. A patient comes in and say … They know what my first question will be when they come to see me every six months, they’ve got that naughty smile on their face. I say, okay, Mr. Brown, have you been flossing? And he would go, Asha, when I saw you last time, you showed me how to floss. I tried flossing and my gums started bleeding and I stopped it. This is a common question that everyone asks me. My gums bleed when I floss. It’s like a vicious cycle. Your gums bleed when you floss because your gums are not healthy. That is the reason why your gums bleed, not because you’re hurting your gums by flossing.
It’s like your gums are inflamed, they’re swollen, so then when you try to put the floss through, the first reaction will be bleeding. But what I want to emphasise is when your gums start bleeding, when you floss, you continue flossing for about two weeks, every single day, and your gums will stop bleeding. Bleeding is a sign of disease and inflammation. Once your gums stops bleeding, that means your gums have come back to a very healthy, firm pink stage, which is the sign of healthy gums. So your gums should not bleed when you floss, when you floss every day.