Gum soreness

I had pain in my gums a few months ago. Went to the dentist and was told I needed a cleaning. True hadn't had one since 2008. First appointment my gums were bleeding all night. Second appointment much better. Had my entire mouth x-rayed as well.

Now whenever I eat meat (steak, ribs, lamb chops) my gums hurt really bad and I have to stop eating. Soft foods like chicken, pasta, are not as bad. However if I eat for a long period of time it hurts as well.
What causes this? Is this normal? How can I begin to eat normal again?

It is hard to say without seeing the extent of the gum disease on x-ray. Generally gums and teeth are sore for a while after a deep cleaning. My experience is the pain can last up to 3 weeks, but sensitivity to cold may last way beyond that and require desensitizing medicines applied to the root surfaces.

The best advice is to present with this history to the treating dentist, and see what he says about it.

Dear jimhassel!

You are right, low levels of Vitamin C can lead to different conditions, for example gum bleeding (ginvitis). We call the disease, which is associated with very low levels of vitamine c "scorbut".

This disease, as other vitamin conditions (low level of vit. b "beriberi", low level of vit d "rachitis"), you will not find neither in the USA nor in Europe.

I have worked over 10 years in different hospitals in western europe, where I have never seen a case of vitamins deficiency. When the patient presents gum bleeding it is a late symptom, meaning you have to have years of low level of vit. c.

On the contrary what i've seen in the hospitals, are patients with too much of an ingestion of food and the resulting diseases like adipositas, overweight, diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterinämie, … just to mention a few. This diseases are common in the western world.

Therefore it is my opinion, that gum bleeding is not caused by a deficiency of vit. c. I would tip poor dental hygiene which causes bleeding in most of the cases.