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One of the best things you can do for your gums is floss daily.
I used to have sensitive teeth, and so I used Sensodyne.
I had a great dentist tell me that using Sensodyne will help sensitivity, but it can mask serious problems. So he said that flossing regularly (which I wasn't doing) should eliminate sensitivity. And it did. I use normal toothpaste now, and I have fewer issues with sensitivity than I did while using Sensodyne.
As it happens, a failure to floss can cause gum problems. Receding gums can be a somewhat permanent thing, but flossing and ensuring you're getting gunk above the gumline (via soft and effective brushing) will help tremendously. It may even reverse receding a bit.
Don't brush the gums excessively or with hard bristles, as this will only irritate them.
Flossing is far more important than people believe. It's such a chore at first, but getting into the habit and you realize just how quick and easy it is.
There is now an international standard of gum conditions. I think the scale is 1 to 5, 5 being a bad condition that usually happens from a lack of flossing (and brushing, likely too). I had a couple of 4s, but mostly 1s, 2s, and and a couple of 3s. By flossing, I hope to bring most areas down to 1s and 2s.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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