Apologies in advance. If you are not in the business or habit of tasting wines regularly, I strongly suggest that you ignore this post.

I need advice from my peers who taste wines regularly, not just for pleasure but also for business.

How do you deal with keeping a healthy mouth?

It may seem like an odd, and possibly rather off-putting, question to raise here, but where else to do this? (I think I might have to post the conclusions to Quora – finally found a use for it!)

I ask as I want to treat some possible gum disease, but I find I can’t use any mouthwash. Have you ever noticed that mouthwash kills your ability to taste? I’m not sure if it is the alcohol ingredient or something else, but I had some surgery once and was forced to use Corsodyl for a while. After a week or so I found I could hardly taste anything and my tongue was numbed. It wore off after I stopped using it, but it worried me.

Recently I tried some of the more “delicate” styles such as Listerine Zero, and although I had no numbness I did find it was affecting my tongue and I did not want to continue.

Is there a wine-trade friendly solution to protecting your mouth and gums?

I have come across enough of my peers who seem to have suffered from the apparent lack of a solution to think this also deserves a public airing.

I would really welcome your hints and tips such as these by Simon Woods – Smile while you still have your teeth

For example, avoiding brushing too soon after wine-tasting as it strips the enamel from your teeth (did you know that?)

Thank you in advance, please resume your normal wine appreciation activities