What Does a Periodontist Do?

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What a Periodontist Actually Does

A general dentist takes care of teeth. A periodontist takes care of what holds them: the gums and the jawbone underneath. That covers gum disease at every stage, receding gums, gum surgery, and the bone and soft-tissue work that prepares a site for a dental implant.

The training is the difference. After dental school, a periodontist completes about three more years of residency in gum and bone treatment alone. Board certification adds exams on top of that, plus recertification over time. Dr. Farhadian completed her periodontics residency at Saint Louis University and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Periodontology.

When a Regular Dentist Sends You to One

Most patients meet a periodontist through a referral, usually for one of a few reasons: gums that keep bleeding after regular cleanings, pockets around the teeth that measure deeper than normal, gums that are pulling back from the teeth, or a tooth that has started to feel loose.

You do not have to wait for a referral, though. If you have watched a symptom get worse for months, you can book with us directly. Diabetes, smoking, and a family history of gum disease all raise your risk, so people in those groups should have a lower bar for getting checked.

Gum Disease and Periodontal Pockets, Explained

Healthy gums hug each tooth with a shallow groove of one to three millimeters. When plaque builds up along the gumline, the gums get inflamed and that groove deepens into a pocket. The pocket shelters more bacteria, which deepens it further. Left alone, the infection starts dissolving the bone that anchors the tooth.

That last part is the reason to act early. Inflamed gums can heal. Bone that the infection has destroyed does not grow back on its own. We measure every pocket with a small probe; anything past four millimeters tells us the disease is active and needs treatment, not just a cleaning.

The Treatments a Periodontist Performs

Treatment matches the stage. Early disease usually responds to scaling and root planing, a deep cleaning that removes tartar from below the gumline so the tissue can reattach. Deeper pockets may need pocket-reduction surgery, where the gum is folded back, the buildup is removed, and the tissue is secured snugly against the tooth.

Where the gums have pulled back, a gum graft covers the exposed root with new tissue, protecting it from sensitivity and decay. We also use laser therapy as an add-on to deep cleaning in the right cases; studies show a modest extra benefit, which is exactly how we present it.

Gum health decides implant work too. Untreated gum disease raises the risk that an implant fails, so infection gets treated first, and Dr. Farhadian handles the bone and soft-tissue work that gets a site ready before our oral surgeons place the implant.

What Your First Visit Looks Like

Plan on about an hour at our Midtown Houston office. We go through your medical history and medications first, because diabetes, some blood-pressure drugs, and even oral contraceptives can affect the gums. Then we chart every tooth: pocket depths, bleeding points, recession, looseness. X-rays show what the bone is doing under the surface.

You leave with a staged plan, starting with the least invasive option that will actually work. If the honest answer is that a cleaning and better home care are enough, that is what we will tell you. Nervous patients should say so when booking; Dr. Farhadian is also a Level 3 anesthesiologist, so sedation for gum procedures is handled in-house.

Signs You Should Book Without Waiting

Bleeding when you brush or floss is the earliest and most ignored sign. Gums that look red and swollen, breath that stays bad no matter what, gums pulling away from the teeth, pain when chewing, and sensitive or loose teeth are all classic signs of gum disease.

One warning about how this disease behaves: it is usually painless until it is advanced. Plenty of patients feel fine right up until a tooth moves. If any sign on this list has been around for more than a couple of weeks, the exam is worth it. Gum disease is also one of the quiet reasons teeth start to shift, and catching it early is far cheaper than treating it late.

Gum Care at Omega Dental Specialists in Houston

Dr. Shirin Farhadian is our board-certified periodontist, and she works in the same Midtown office as our oral surgeons, endodontists, orthodontist, and restorative dentists. If your gum treatment is one step in a bigger plan, an implant, a crown, or orthodontic work, the doctors coordinate directly instead of referring you across town.

We are on West Gray Street, between Downtown and the Texas Medical Center, with on-site parking and Saturday hours. Call (713) 322-7474 or book online, and current periodontal fees are on our periodontics page.