Periodontal Disease Treatment in Beverly Hills, CA
Medically reviewed by Dr. Kayla Lebeau, DDS
Gum disease is the most common reason adults lose teeth
And it rarely hurts until it is advanced. That is the whole problem. Plaque hardens at the gum line, the body reacts to the bacteria in it, and the inflammation slowly destroys the bone holding your teeth in. By the time a tooth feels loose, a great deal of that bone has already gone, and bone does not come back on its own.
Caught at the gingivitis stage, it is completely reversible. Once it has become periodontitis, it can be stopped and controlled, which is a different promise and an honest one.
- First stepFull pocket charting, every tooth
- NumbingLocal anesthetic for deep cleaning
- SessionsUsually 2, sometimes 4
- ThenMaintenance every 3 months
Signs worth acting on now
- Your gums bleed when you brush or floss. Healthy gums do not bleed
- Persistent bad breath or a bad taste that keeps coming back
- Gums that look red and puffy, or have started to shrink back
- Teeth that feel longer, or sensitive at the root
- Any looseness, drifting, or a bite that has changed
- A family history of gum disease, or you smoke, or you have diabetes
Diagnosis, then treatment in stages
- ChartingWe measure the pocket depth at six points around every tooth and note where it bleeds. Under about 3mm is healthy. Deeper than that cannot be cleaned by you at home, no matter how well you brush, and that single fact explains why gum disease progresses in people with good habits.
- X-raysTo see the bone level, which is the real measure of how far it has gone.
- Deep cleaningScaling and root planing under local anesthetic, removing hardened deposits from the root surfaces below the gum. Usually done in two visits, one side at a time.
- Re-evaluation at six weeksWe chart the same pockets again and compare. This is not a formality. It decides what happens next.
- Further treatment if neededPockets that have not resolved may need laser treatment, surgical access, or bone grafting to regenerate what was lost.
What Does Periodontal Disease Treatment Include?
Why maintenance is the actual treatment
The deep cleaning resets things. What determines whether you keep your teeth is what happens over the following years. Bacteria recolonize deep pockets in roughly three months, which is why periodontal maintenance runs on a three-month cycle rather than the usual six. See periodontal maintenance.
- Clean between the teeth daily. Brushing reaches about 60% of the tooth surface. Gum disease starts in the other 40%.
- Interdental brushes beat floss for most people with gum disease, because the spaces are larger. We will size them for you.
- Stopping smoking changes the outcome more than any treatment we provide. Smokers heal worse and often do not bleed, which hides the disease.
- Tell us about your general health. Diabetes and gum disease each make the other worse, and treating the gums measurably helps blood sugar control.
Is it too late for me?
Almost certainly not. Even advanced periodontitis can usually be stabilized so you keep your teeth. What has been lost will not regrow by itself, but the destruction can be stopped.
Does deep cleaning hurt?
It is done under local anesthetic, so no. Afterwards the gums are tender for a few days and the teeth can be sensitive to cold for a few weeks.
Why do my teeth look longer after treatment?
As inflammation resolves, swollen gum tissue shrinks back to where the bone actually is. It is the disease that caused the recession, not the treatment, the treatment revealed it.
Can gum disease affect the rest of my health?
There is a well-documented association with heart disease, diabetes and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Chronic inflammation in the mouth does not stay in the mouth.
Will I need surgery?
Most people do not. Surgery is considered when pockets stay deep after non-surgical treatment, and that decision is made on the re-chart, not at the start.
How often will I need to come in?
Every three months once treatment is complete. This is the single most reliable predictor of whether people keep their teeth long term.
Start with a full gum assessment
- (310) 860-6969Someone here answers.
- Request a visitWe will call to confirm.
- Pick a time onlineChoose your own slot.
What the numbers at your check-up mean
You will hear us calling out numbers while probing around each tooth. They are millimeter depths of the space between gum and tooth, and they are the most objective measure in dentistry.
- 1 to 3 mm with no bleeding. Healthy. A brush and floss reach the bottom.
- 4 mm. The early warning. Beyond the reach of home cleaning, still very treatable.
- 5 to 6 mm. Established disease with bone loss. Needs deep cleaning, then a maintenance interval for life.
- 7 mm and above. Advanced. Some teeth may not be savable, and treatment aims to hold the rest.
Bleeding on probing matters as much as depth. A shallow pocket that bleeds is active; a deeper one that does not is often stable and being managed. Ask for your numbers. They are yours, and tracking them year to year tells you whether treatment is working better than any reassurance can.
The part people are not told
Periodontal disease is controlled, not cured. Bone that has been lost does not grow back, apart from limited regeneration in particular defect shapes. Treatment stops the loss and protects what remains.
That means two things you deserve to hear at the start. Your cleaning interval changes permanently, usually to every three months, because bacteria repopulate deep pockets in about that time. And gums that have receded will not climb back up. Teeth may look longer after treatment, and gaps can open between them as inflammation resolves. That is healing, not damage, though it is a genuine cosmetic trade-off.
It also connects outward. The evidence linking gum disease with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes is substantial, and strongest with diabetes, where the relationship runs in both directions.
Smoking both accelerates the disease and hides it, by reducing the bleeding that would otherwise warn you.