Can we finally give up flossing? The good gums guide

Open wide and check your mouth in the bathroom mirror. If you see pale pink, firm gums that wrap tightly around your teeth, you get good marks for gum health. If, however, they are red, swollen and receding and there is a pink tinge or even blood when you swill out your mouth after brushing or flossing, it is a sign of gum disease. This is a problem that starts as a painless inconvenience but which can eventually cause a chronic inflammatory response in the body that raises a person’s risk of a long list of health issues, from dementia and type 2 diabetes to lung and heart disease.

Age increases the chance of developing gum disease, and by the time we reach our 50s