A system (300), which may include an oral care device, assesses a health parameter of a user by means of a force-generating module (52) to apply a momentary force to a tissue of the user, a sensor (28) to obtain a plurality of optical signals from the tissue over time after the momentary force has been applied, a controller (30) to quantify, based at least in part on an analysis of the plurality of optical signals, a health parameter (e.g. inflammation of gingival tissue) of the user, wherein the health parameter is based at least in part on an amount of time the tissue takes to recover to the application of force； and a feedback module (46) to provide information to the user regarding the quantified health parameter.
