If I had bleeding gums, here’s what I’d do

The kind of dentistry I was trained to do did not hand out much good news.

Gingivitis, caught early, is the one dental problem I could promise a patient a full reversal on. 

The reason it’s reversible is that the attachment, the collagen and fiber network anchoring gum to tooth, is still intact. Calm the fire and the tissue comes back to normal, no graft, no drama. 

Here’s exactly what I’d buy, in the order I’d actually use it, if I had bleeding gums right now…

1. Floss.

Most people floss straight in and straight back out, which misses the inflamed tissue just under the gumline entirely. Curve the floss around the side of one tooth, slide it gently under the gum until you feel light resistance, work it up and down, then re-curve it against the neighboring tooth and repeat. Two surfaces per gap, not one pass through the middle. Use floss or a water flosser (though floss is better; I’ve changed my mind based on recent study on this topic). I switched away from conventional waxed floss once I learned it’s often coated in forever chemicals. 

→ This is the floss I use.

2. An oil pulling blend, in place of mouthwash.

Coconut oil is the wrong oil for this, and I say that as someone who recommended it for years. The lauric acid in it is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, which is the same scorched-earth logic as mouthwash in a nicer bottle. MCT oil does something more elegant: the shorter chain length lets it penetrate the biofilm, reduce its cohesion, and loosen the extracellular matrix while leaving most of the microbial architecture intact. 

→This is the blend I use.

3. A soft-bristle brush, and the discipline to use it gently. 

Overbrushing is serious—I’ve seen patients brush too much, too hard, or with worn-out brush heads, and literally scrub away their enamel and cause gum recession. Brush gently! How gently, you ask? Switch your brush to your non-dominant hand—that’s the level of pressure I’m talking about. If you have an electric brush, let it do the brushing for you, don’t saw back and forth.

→ This is the one I use. Hold it at a 45 degree angle right at the gumline, small gentle circles, two minutes. Swap the brush head every three to four weeks. If the bristles look splayed before that, you’re pressing too hard, and heavy pressure is its own path to gum trouble.

4. A hydroxyapatite toothpaste. 

Hydroxyapatite remineralizes as well as fluoride does, without harming the oral microbiome. When your gums are raw, the foaming agent in a conventional paste is working against the thing you’re trying to fix.

→ This is the one I use, and as you likely know by now, I formulated it, so take that recommendation with the appropriate grain of salt 😉 For decades, I called all toothpaste a “compromise,” Even back when I recommended Boka. Once Boka got bought out by private equity and changed the formula, I decided it was time to take the leap and make my own. 

5. A tongue scraper. 

Your tongue is where gum-disease bacteria accumulate between cleanings. In one study, volunteers who stopped cleaning their tongues, and then stopped brushing altogether, doubled the bacterial load on the tongue in ten days, and among the species that rose were P. gingivalis and T. denticola, both associated with periodontal disease. The researchers concluded the tongue may act as a reservoir that recolonizes tooth surfaces.

→This is the one I use.

6. A probiotic.

Beneficial strains compete for the same surfaces on your gum tissue that the inflammatory species want, and there’s only so much of that real estate to go around.

→This is the one I use, a chewable mint that delivers a handful of clinically studied strains right where they’re needed. Make sure to use it after flossing and brushing for maximum impact.

7. Vitamin C and zinc. 

Take the vitamin C three or four times a day, not all in one go because Vit C is water-soluble, so there’s nowhere to store it Your gums, meanwhile, are rebuilding collagen around the clock, and small doses spread across the day keep the supply steady. Your gum attachment is made of collagen, and you don’t build collagen by swallowing collagen, your gut just breaks that powder down into amino acids. The actual bottleneck for the collagen building process is the machinery, which runs on vitamin C and zinc.

→ This is the zinc I take daily.

→ This is the Vitamin C I take daily.

None of this requires a single prescription, but it does require showing up with the right tools, consistently, for a few weeks. Don’t skip those professional cleanings—your hygienist is your best partner in reversing gingivitis! If you can do this, you’ll see the bleeding will stop on its own.

You’ve got this,

Mark

Further Reading & Citations:

How to Floss the Right Way: the C-shape, with video, if you’d rather watch a demo

Is Your Floss Toxic? How to Find and Use Safe Dental Floss: the PFAS problem in waxed floss, and what to look for instead

If your gums bleed, this seal is already failing: why bleeding is a structural warning, not a brushing problem

I owe you an update on oil pulling: I changed my recommendation this March, and here’s why

What I wish more people knew about zinc: the deficiency signs that show up in your mouth first

I Don’t Take Collagen. It’s a Waste of Money: the long version of the argument in step 7

From the podcast:

Episode #85: Do we need scientific proof for flossing?

Episode #83: Do Waterpiks work?

Further Reading & Citations:

Löe, H., Theilade, E., & Jensen, S.B. (1965). “Experimental gingivitis in man.” Journal of Periodontology, 36(3), 177–187.

Fernandez, M.D.S., Martins, T.M., Meza-Mauricio, J., et al. (2025). “Clinical efficacy of adjunctive use of coenzyme Q10 in non-surgical periodontal treatment: A systematic review.” European Journal of Oral Sciences, 133(2), e70002.

Faveri, M., Feres, M., Shibli, J.A., Hayacibara, R.F., Hayacibara, M.M., & de Figueiredo, L.C. (2006). “Microbiota of the dorsum of the tongue after plaque accumulation: an experimental study in humans.” Journal of Periodontology, 77(9), 1539–1546.

Hujoel, P.P., Kato, T., Hujoel, I.A., & Hujoel, M.L.A. (2021). “Bleeding tendency and ascorbic acid requirements: systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials.” Nutrition Reviews, 79(9), 964–975.

Levine, M., Conry-Cantilena, C., Wang, Y., et al. (1996). “Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers: evidence for a recommended dietary allowance.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 93(8), 3704–3709.

Boronow, K.E., Brody, J.G., Schaider, L.A., et al. (2019). “Serum concentrations of PFASs and exposure-related behaviors in African American and non-Hispanic white women.” Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 29(2), 206–217.

Limeback, H., Enax, J., & Meyer, F. (2021). “Biomimetic hydroxyapatite and caries prevention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene, 55(3), 148–159.

Pawinska, M., Paszynska, E., Amaechi, B.T., Meyer, F., Enax, J., & Limeback, H. (2024). “Clinical evidence of caries prevention by hydroxyapatite: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.” Journal of Dentistry, 151, 105429.