You may have asked your periodontist about procedures to improve a "gummy" smile because your teeth appear short. Your teeth may actually be the proper lengths, but they're covered with too much gum tissue. To correct this, your periodontist performs a dental crown len...

Gum disease is often silent, meaning symptoms may not appear until an advanced stage of the disease.

However, warning signs of gum disease include the following:

• Red, swollen or tender gums or other pain in your mouth

• Bleeding while brushing, flossing, or eating...

Your periodontist may recommend a bone graft procedure when the bone supporting your teeth has been destroyed due to periodontal disease. These procedures can reverse some of the damage by regenerating lost bone and tissue. During this procedure, your periodontist fold...

Scaling and root planing is a careful cleaning of the root surfaces to remove plaque and calculus [tartar] from deep periodontal pockets and to smooth the tooth root to remove bacterial toxins. Scaling and root planing is often followed by adjunctive therapy such as lo...