This is what it sounds like when gums bleed
So I went to see the periodontist today to essential give my gums a facelift.

Partly because my wisdom teeth came in so..interestingly.. and made it hard to clean.
And partly because going to dentist for regularly scheduled cleanings was consistently lower on my priority list than curling up in a fetal position and having a panic attack over how my research was going....

I had developed some small pockets of infection below the gum line, eating away bone, and too deep to keep clean with regular care. The dentist can do some aggressive cleaning of the pockets, but you can't keep them cleaned out. In order to stop the progression of the bone loss, the solution is to reset the gum line. The gum is cut and pulled back exposing the affected area so that it can be reached for cleaning.

The bone loss i've already sustained is permanent, but the roots of the tooth affects are literally about 3.2 miles long, My gum was reset about 5 millimeters. I'm in no danger of having my teeth fall out, but is one of those things where once you find out about it, you might as well take care of it while its relatively easy to take care off.

All this is a preamble to the essentially truth that I learned today: Band-aids affixed over your molars taste HORRIBLE. I can't identify it, but it isn't pleasant. You'd think they'd make these things minty.

-jef