Bleeding gums are an early warning — and early is when treatment stays simple.

Insurance covers a portion. We verify your benefits and file the claim · written estimate of your out-of-pocket before we start · Self-pay from $274 per quadrant.

Bleeding gums are not something to wait out.

Most patients notice gum disease the same way: a little blood when they brush or floss. The instinct is to back off and brush softer. That's almost always the wrong move — bleeding is the body's early warning that bacteria are already inflaming the tissue, and the fix isn't gentler brushing. It's removing the bacteria a toothbrush can't reach at home.

Gum disease progresses quietly because the bone holding your teeth in place doesn't feel pain the way teeth do. Inflammation can break that bone down for years before anything feels wrong — which is why a loose-feeling tooth often arrives with very little warning. Roughly half of American adults over 30 have some form of gum disease, and it's the leading cause of tooth loss in the United States.

The three stages — and what each one means for you.

Where you are on this timeline decides how simple treatment is:

• Gingivitis — early and reversible. Gums are red, swollen, and bleed easily, but the bone supporting the teeth hasn't been affected yet. A thorough professional cleaning plus better home care usually settles the inflammation within a few weeks.
• Early periodontitis — treatable, not reversible. Bacteria have spread below the gum line and bone loss has started, with pockets forming where more bacteria collect. We can stop the progression and stabilize the bone, but bone that's been lost doesn't grow back without specific surgical procedures.
• Moderate to advanced periodontitis — stabilizable. Deeper pockets, more bone loss, sometimes recession or loose teeth. Treatment is more intensive and often staged — but with disciplined care and ongoing maintenance, most teeth can still be kept even at this stage.

How we treat it — from scaling to laser therapy.

Gum Infection Therapy treats active gum disease, a bacterial infection below the gumline. It is not a cleaning: a routine cleaning maintains healthy gums above the gumline, while Gum Infection Therapy removes the infection a cleaning cannot reach. It combines scaling and root planing (SRP) with laser bacterial reduction (LBR). Some call the SRP part a "deep cleaning," but that name is misleading because it is a treatment, not a cleaning. It is the foundation of periodontal care. We clean bacterial deposits off the tooth roots below the gum line, smooth the root surfaces so bacteria have a harder time re-colonizing, and let the gums heal back tighter against the tooth. It's usually done a quadrant at a time over two to four visits, with local anesthesia to keep you comfortable. SRP runs $274-$355 per quadrant, depending on severity.

For deeper pockets or more aggressive disease, we add a diode laser as an adjunct to SRP. The laser disinfects the pocket more thoroughly than instruments alone can and helps the gum tissue re-attach to the tooth as it heals. Once active disease is under control, periodontal maintenance every three to four months keeps the result from unwinding — a shorter interval than the standard six-month cleaning schedule, and the step patients most want to skip and most regret skipping.

For advanced cases where pockets are too deep for SRP alone, surgical access or regenerative procedures (bone grafting, guided tissue regeneration) may be needed. We handle these in-house when appropriate, and when a case is better served by a periodontist, we'll say so and coordinate the referral.

Nervous about Gum Infection Therapy? You have options.

Scaling and root planing sounds more intense than it usually feels — most patients report pressure rather than pain, because we numb the area thoroughly with local anesthesia. If numbing hasn't worked well for you in the past, or anxiety is what's kept you away, IV sedation is available — delivered in-office by Dr. Thanh Huynh, who holds the Texas State Board of Dental Examiners' Level 3 moderate parenteral sedation permit. IV sedation starts at $750.

What happens if you leave it alone.

Once bone loss starts, gum disease doesn't reverse on its own. The typical path without treatment: pockets deepen, bone loss continues, teeth loosen, and eventually teeth are lost. Replacing teeth lost to gum disease with implants or bridges costs significantly more — in money and time — than treating the disease early enough to keep them.

Beyond the dental cost, untreated periodontitis is associated in the medical literature with cardiovascular disease, diabetes complications, and pregnancy complications — one more reason a thorough periodontal evaluation matters even if nothing feels wrong yet.