Male 31. Problem gum flare up and recession. I occasionally get cold sores in the corners of my mouth which I assume is herpes HV1. In the past (very stressful) year I've had a couple of occasions where my gums became inflamed, painful, bled, then recessed severely. This happened once about 10 years ago and my dentist told me it was a form of herpes likely triggered by stress. No blood or saliva samples taken or tested.

Two days ago I had what felt like a staph infected hangnail (thumb) and woke up in the middle of that night with severe gum pain on the side of most previous recessions. In addition my baby toe nail area had become reddened, swollen and painful. I mouth washed and tried to remove any debris. The inflamed gum has now died and recessed very noticeably exposing root. This has happened twice in the past 6 months and I'm very worried. If this continues I'll soon be gumless, and I think will certainly lose teeth. I brush and waterpik daily. Help! Is there any way to stop this? Anything to take, either prescribed or natural? I've cut acidic foods and try to stick to meat, broccoli and rice. I drink a lot of almond milk though - maybe a problem? What to do?