Bad breath after dental routine, water flossing made gums puffy, routine hell 

Two years ago, I had 5-6mm gum pockets. After SRP on one quadrant and regular maintenance cleanings, I’ve managed to reverse them to 1-3mm with a few 4mm pockets remaining. I recently switched dentists because I moved, but my last cleaning left my mouth unusually sore, especially in the areas with 4mm pockets. The cleaning itself was painful, which isn’t normally the case. I had already ordered a Waterpik to enhance my home care routine (currently I tongue scrape, use mouthwash, and brush in the morning and at night, with string flossing in the evening). I’ve now added water flossing to both my AM and PM routines.

Aside from the initial SRP, I was never placed on a perio maintenance schedule but received a “gingival cleaning” every 6 months. My new dentist believes I can manage with regular cleanings, but that makes me nervous because I had 4 spots that bled during probing (which didn’t bleed at my last appointment).

A week after the cleaning, my gums were still sore, so I called the office. They advised saltwater rinses and Chlorhexidine mouthwash twice daily. I also began water flossing.

I have two concerns:

	1.	I’ve noticed my mouth hasn’t felt fresh after brushing for years. Could this be due to bacteria from mild periodontal disease? I noticed the prescription mouthwash eliminates bad bacteria, and now my breath feels fresh again
+ I overused the Waterpik at its highest setting instead of starting low and gradually increasing. This made my gums feel puffy, though they aren’t visibly swollen or sore—just the spots from the cleaning remain tender. Moving forward, I’m using the lowest setting and slowly working my way up.


Please be super gentle. I’m extremely self conscious of the black triangles on my lower teeth and mild gum recession there as well. I’m just happy my lip covers it when I’m smiling. The black triangles are partly genetics and partly my fault. I circled the areas that are tender post cleaning just for reference. There’s a slight gum color change (darker) but couldn’t get it to show on camera much. 

On the last photo, I also see how my teeth are lighter is certain spots. Is this enamel loss? Too much fluoride, what is this? 

Bad breath after dental routine, water flossing made gums puffy, sore a week later after dental cleaning, overall help