i don't have any of the more dramatic symptoms of it, but i do have a few areas of my body where there's noticeable scaliness, including my hands and what i've been thinking of as a regular build up of dry skin on my cheeks. i've been blaming it on pollution and dry air, and...i think that's correct. but, i can't rule it out completely. there's some consistency with the idea.
it would appear to be unlikely that it would be caused by too much vitamin c or something else in my diet. rather, if that's the case, and the cause of the gum recession, i'd have to file it under "genetic". and, then what? there's no cure, and no convincing diagnosis.
so, no - i don't appear to be able to test for collagen levels and base my reaction on that. unfortunately.
i'm consequently going to kind of put this aside as an exotic idea, but i have an appointment coming up and i'll run it by him. he once suggested to me that i may have raynaud's disease...