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Gum Disease & Periodontics
The commonest reason adults lose teeth, almost always painless until it is advanced, and the one condition where a specific number written in your notes tells you more than any opinion.
Periodontal disease destroys the bone holding teeth in, and bone does not come back on its own. What treatment achieves is arrest: stopping the loss where it is and keeping it stopped. That reframes the whole thing, because a treatment that works is one you are still doing in ten years.
The encouraging part is that this is the most measurable area in dentistry. Pocket depths, bleeding scores and bone levels are numbers. A practice that records them can show you whether you are getting better or worse; a practice that does not is guessing, however conscientiously.
What we look for
A full six-point pocket chart, recorded and repeated, so change is visible rather than remembered. Radiographic bone levels compared over time. Treatment sequenced properly: stabilise first, reassess, then decide about surgery — rather than grafting into active disease. Maintenance intervals set by the measurements. Smoking and diabetes addressed as part of the treatment, because they largely determine whether it holds. And referral for surgical management at a stated threshold.
Questions worth asking
What are my pocket depths, and what were they last time? You are entitled to the numbers. Two sets of them is the only way to know whether treatment is working.
How much bone have I lost, and how fast? Rate matters more than amount. Slow loss over thirty years is a different disease from the same loss in three.
What is realistically achievable here? Arrest, usually, not regeneration. A promise to reverse advanced bone loss is worth questioning closely.
What is my maintenance interval, and what happens if I miss it? Periodontal disease recurs. The interval is part of the treatment, not an optional follow-up.
Where we've reviewed periodontists.
No city has completed a review for this procedure yet. Every market is open to nomination.
Nobody is listed for this yet.
We only list dentists where the review has actually been completed. Nominate a dentist and this page becomes the first market covered.
Gum Disease & Periodontics.
Can gum disease be cured?
Gingivitis, the early inflammatory stage, resolves completely with effective cleaning. Established periodontitis, where bone has been lost, can be arrested and maintained but not reversed — the aim is to stop further loss and keep it stopped, which requires ongoing maintenance rather than a course of treatment.
Is deep cleaning worth it, or is it a way of charging more?
Where there are genuine pockets, scaling and root debridement is the established first-line treatment and it works. What makes it questionable is when it is performed without a pocket chart to justify it or a reassessment afterwards to show whether it helped. Ask for both.
Will I lose my teeth?
Not necessarily, even with significant bone loss, provided the disease is arrested and maintained. The strongest predictors of eventual loss are continued smoking, uncontrolled diabetes, and missed maintenance appointments — all of which are more within your influence than the initial diagnosis is.