Periodontal Patient Information for Bakersfield and Valencia
What the first appointment covers, what to bring, how to read the chart you will be shown, and what to expect after surgery. If anything here does not match what you were told in the office, what you were told in the office is right.
- UCLA
- BA, Sociology
- University of the Pacific
- DDS
- Tufts
- Specialty Certificate, Periodontics
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
- Offices
- Bakersfield and Valencia
The first visit is an examination, not a treatment.
Nothing surgical happens at a consultation. The point of it is to measure what is actually there, put a name to it, and give you the options in language you can act on. Treatment is booked afterwards, once you have decided.
- 01
Examination
A full periodontal chart, the radiographs the case actually needs, and a straight explanation of what the numbers mean. You see your own chart.
- 02
Diagnosis
The diagnosis is named, the options are laid out with what each one can and cannot achieve, and the cost is put in front of you before anything is booked.
What to bring with you.
- A photo ID, and your dental benefits card if you have one
- A list of every medication you take, including anything over the counter and any supplements
- Your medical history, and any allergies you know about
- The name and phone number of your general dentist
- Any x-rays or a referral letter your dentist has given you to bring
- The name of any physician treating a condition that affects healing or bleeding
Three measurements, and what each one is telling you.
A periodontal chart looks like a page of numbers until somebody walks you through the three things being recorded. There is no threshold printed on this page, because the number that matters is the one measured in your mouth, next to your other numbers and your radiographs.
- Pocket depthmm
A fine probe is walked into the space between the tooth and the gum until it stops, and the distance from the gum margin down to where it stops is read off in millimeters. Healthy tissue is attached tightly to the tooth, so the probe does not travel far.
Where the infection has broken that attachment down, the probe goes deeper, and what it has entered is the pocket. Depth is what matters because a pocket is a space that a toothbrush and floss cannot reach into. That is the whole problem in one number.
- Recessionmm
Recession records how far the gum margin has moved away from where it sat originally, also in millimeters. It is written down separately from pocket depth because the two can move in opposite directions.
A tooth can have a shallow pocket and still have lost a lot of support, if the gum has receded down the root rather than the pocket having deepened. Reading depth on its own would miss that, which is why both are charted.
- Mobilitygrade
Mobility is how much a tooth moves when it is pressed gently between two instruments. It is recorded as a grade of movement rather than as a distance.
Movement is a consequence of lost support rather than a cause of it, so it is read alongside the radiographs, which show the bone level around the root directly.
You will be shown your own chart. It is your mouth, and the numbers are not difficult to read once someone explains them.
After surgery, in general terms.
You will be given written instructions for your own procedure at the appointment. Where anything below differs from them, follow the written instructions. They are specific to what was done and to you, and this page is not.
- Bleeding
- Some oozing on the first day is normal. Firm, steady pressure on gauze over the site, held in place and left alone rather than lifted to check, is what settles it. Repeated rinsing, spitting and checking restarts it.
- Swelling
- Swelling usually peaks a day or two after surgery rather than on the day itself, so it getting worse before it gets better is expected. Cold held against the outside of the face on the first day helps limit it.
- Eating and drinking
- Soft, cool food for the first days, and chew on the other side. Nothing sharp, crunchy or seeded near the site. Do not drink through a straw, and do not smoke. Both interfere with a healing surgical site.
- Activity
- Rest for the remainder of the day. Hard exercise raises the pressure at the site and can restart bleeding, so leave it until the site has settled and you have been told it is fine.
- Cleaning around the site
- Keep brushing the rest of your mouth as normally as you can, because plaque control everywhere else is part of what protects the site. Leave the surgical area itself alone, including brushing and flossing it, until you are told otherwise.
- When to call us
- Bleeding that does not settle with pressure, swelling that is still increasing after the second day, pain that is getting worse rather than easing, a fever, numbness that has not gone, or anything that simply does not feel right. We would rather hear from you early.
The cost is settled before treatment, not after it.
At the consultation the diagnosis is named, the options are laid out with what each one can and cannot achieve, and the cost is put in front of you before anything is booked. You leave knowing the figure, not waiting on an estimate to be confirmed later.
If you have dental benefits, bring the card to the first visit. The office will check what your plan covers before treatment is scheduled. Benefits are an agreement between you and your carrier, so what a plan pays is decided by the plan and not by us. We will tell you what we can find out, and we will tell you plainly where the answer is one only your carrier can give.
For anything specific about carriers, payment methods or paying over time, call the office and ask. We would rather answer that on the phone than list something here that turns out not to apply to your plan.
New patient forms
The new patient paperwork covers your medical history, your medications and your allergies, and it has to be complete before the examination. The forms are handed to you at the office, so arriving about ten minutes early is enough.
The questions we get asked.
Anything not answered here is worth a phone call. The office would rather talk it through than have you guess from a page.
What actually happens at the first visit?
It is an examination and nothing surgical is done at it. What gets measured, what you are shown and what happens next are set out in the first section of this page.
Will I know the cost before anything is booked?
The diagnosis is named, the options are laid out with what each one can and cannot achieve, and the cost is put in front of you before anything is booked.
Do I keep seeing my own dentist?
Where your general dentist provides part of that care, we alternate visits so that the mouth is being seen more often, not twice by the same pair of eyes.
Is scaling and root planing the same as a cleaning?
No. A cleaning removes deposits above and just below the gum line. Scaling and root planing is a therapeutic procedure that cleans the root surface deep inside the pocket, and it is done with the area numbed.
Will my bone grow back?
Bone that has been lost does not return by itself. Treatment stops the loss, and in selected sites a bone graft or regenerative procedure can rebuild some of what was lost. Whether that is possible depends on the shape of the defect.
How often will I need maintenance visits?
More often than a standard six month recall, because the pockets that remain repopulate with bacteria faster than healthy tissue does. The interval is set from your own chart, not from a rule.
Clear answers. A plan that makes sense.
Your consultation includes a thorough examination, review of the necessary X-rays, and a clear explanation of what we find. We'll walk you through your options, answer your questions, and help you understand what comes next.
- Hours
- Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PMUrgent periodontal problems are triaged by phone during office hours.
- Bakersfield
- (661) 425-05701010 Calloway Drive, Suite 200B
Bakersfield, CA 93312 - Valencia
- (661) 425-056023501 Cinema Drive, Suite 207
Valencia, CA 91355