★★★★★
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The coffee, the wine, the queso, the occasional two-stepping at the Broken Spoke. South Lamar is good for a lot of things, and your gums pay for some of them quietly. Recession moves slowly enough that most people don’t notice until they catch it in the bathroom mirror one morning and realize their teeth look longer than they used to. That’s the sign worth taking seriously. Caught early, gum recession can be stabilized without surgery. At our South Lamar studio, a diode laser and a maintenance plan are usually the whole conversation. One block off MoPac.
There’s a reason gum recession goes unnoticed for years. It doesn’t announce itself the way a broken tooth or a bad cavity does. It just moves. Millimetre by millimetre, the tissue pulls back from the tooth root, exposing root surfaces that were never meant to be exposed. First you notice sensitivity to cold drinks or a strong breeze off Barton Creek. Then maybe the teeth look a bit longer. By the time recession is visible, it’s been working on you for a while.
Recession is usually driven by gum disease, aggressive brushing, undetected grinding, or some combination of all three. The 78704 lifestyle adds a few contributors the dentist in your hometown probably didn’t talk about: acidic coffee and wine intake, high-stress schedules, and the kind of aggressive brushing that a lot of health-conscious people do because they think harder means cleaner. It doesn’t.
There’s also a systemic angle here that doesn’t get enough attention. Active gum disease and cardiovascular risk are connected. The inflammation it drives doesn’t stay in your mouth, and patients who treat their gum disease see real changes in their inflammatory bloodwork. Your dentist appointment and your cardiologist appointment are more related than most people think.
Every pocket around every tooth gets measured. Recession is charted at specific teeth so we can track it visit to visit. Digital X-rays show what’s happening at the bone. Oral cancer screening at the same visit.
Healthy, gingivitis, or active periodontitis. If there’s recession, we tell you how far it’s gone and whether it’s stable or still moving.
Scaling and root planing below the gumline. Local anesthesia included. Diode laser alongside SRP for faster healing and tighter results.
We re-probe every tooth at every follow-up. Recession that’s stable stays stable; recession that’s progressing shows up in numbers before it shows up in the mirror.
Gum disease moves through four stages, and recession typically starts showing up at stage 2, though the underlying disease can be at stage 1. Here’s how the progression looks.
Healthy pockets read at three millimetres or less. We measure every tooth, every visit, so we can spot the half-millimetre that matters before it becomes the four that does not heal on its own.
Gums bleed easily and look redder or puffier than normal. Plaque at and below the gumline. Fully reversible with a professional cleaning. No bone loss yet, and recession at this stage is usually mild.
Fully reversibleGum tissue starting to separate from the tooth. Pockets forming. This is where recession becomes more visible. Scaling and root planing, plus diode laser, halts the progression. Managed with the right maintenance schedule.
Manage progressionBone damage and ligament involvement. Deeper pockets, more significant recession. Bacteria at this stage can enter the bloodstream. Deep cleaning plus targeted antibiotic therapy, closer follow-up.
Manage progressionSignificant bone loss, mobility, and often pronounced recession. We coordinate with a periodontist when gum grafting or regenerative procedures are the next step.
Specialist coordinationMild recession caught early is a maintenance plan. Recession left alone long enough becomes a surgical conversation. One appointment to find out which category you’re in.
Healthy gums: every six months with your standard cleaning. Active gum disease or progressing recession: every three to four months. That tighter schedule isn’t punitive. The bacteria that drive gum disease can recolonize treated pockets in roughly ninety days. Letting it go past four months hands them back the ground we just took.
For most South Lamar patients who come in with mild recession or early gum disease, we start at three to four months and stretch out the interval once the pockets stabilize and the recession stops moving.
Alongside scaling and root planing, the laser handles the diseased tissue and sterilizes the pocket without a scalpel. Less post-procedure bleeding and faster healing mean you’re not choosing between your gum appointment and a dinner reservation on the strip.
Local anesthesia for every deep cleaning, every time. Noise-cancelling headphones and whatever you want to watch. The visit is focused on the work, not on recapping your oral hygiene history.
We re-probe every tooth at every maintenance appointment. If a pocket tightens, we see it. If recession is moving, we see that too. You always have a number, not an impression.
Surgery is rarely the starting point. Most gum disease and early recession is treated with two non-surgical approaches, often combined.
Clears the hardened tartar and bacteria below the gumline and smooths the root surface so gum tissue can reattach. The definitive non-surgical treatment for stages 1 and 2. Comfortable, with local anesthesia included.
Precise wavelengths remove infected tissue without touching healthy gum. Used alongside scaling and root planing, the laser speeds healing and often produces better pocket tightening than SRP alone.
South Austin and nearby
South Lamar Studio
2717 S Lamar Blvd #1086
Austin, TX 78704
Phone: (512) 717-5315
Getting here: On South Lamar between Matt’s El Rancho and the Alamo Drafthouse. One block off MoPac. 803 Rapid stops nearby.
Areas served: South Lamar (SoLa), Zilker, Barton Hills, Bouldin Creek, South Congress (SoCo), Travis Heights. Zips 78704, 78745, 78746.
We accept most PPO dental insurance plans and bill directly so you can focus on your smile, not paperwork.
Please note: We accept PPO plans only. We are not in-network with HMO, Medicaid, or CHIP plans at this time. Not sure what type of plan you have? Enter it below and we will let you know.
Find out if we accept your insurance at your nearest location.
From Zilker to Travis Heights, here’s what South Lamar patients tell us after their gum therapy visits.
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Can’t find yours? Call the studio. Easier to answer in two minutes than to guess at home.
Depends on how far it’s gone and whether it’s still moving. Mild recession that’s caught while it’s stable can often be managed with a maintenance plan and some home-care adjustments. Recession that’s progressing and approaching the root’s midpoint is a different conversation. We measure it at your first appointment and tell you exactly which situation you’re in.
It can be. Bruxism doesn’t directly cause gum disease, but grinding creates mechanical stress on the ligaments supporting your teeth, which makes existing inflammation harder to manage. If we see wear patterns that suggest grinding, we flag it. It’s a piece of the puzzle, not a separate problem.
Both are acidic and can contribute to enamel erosion. The wine, if you’re not rinsing after, can dry out tissue and change the oral environment in ways that favor bacterial growth. It’s worth knowing about, but it’s not a trade you need to give up, just a habit worth adjusting around your maintenance visits. We’ll give you specific guidance at the appointment.
Not painful. We use local anesthesia to completely numb the area for scaling and root planing. The visit is no more uncomfortable than a filling. Post-procedure sensitivity varies, but most patients on South Lamar are back at dinner the same evening.
Usually, at least in part. Most PPO plans cover periodontal deep cleanings and maintenance. We verify your specific benefits before the visit so you know the out-of-pocket number before you sit down. And if you’re weighing orthodontic treatment alongside gum care, see our breakdown of Invisalign costs for patients with periodontal disease.
Healthy gums are foundational to everything else in your mouth. A single appointment at our South Lamar studio gets you a complete picture: where your gums are, what’s happening with recession, and what happens next. Same-week openings, on the strip, one block off MoPac.