Los Angeles · A Patient's Guide
How to choose a periodontist for
implants and gum grafting.
The periodontist doing the work affects whether a graft holds, whether an implant integrates, and how the next twenty years of your bite feel. Here's what actually separates a good outcome from a redo, and how to tell the difference before you commit to anyone.
A failed graft or a poorly placed implant isn't just disappointing. It's often more expensive and more uncomfortable to fix than it would have been to do right the first time. Bone grafting and gum grafting both depend on technique and healing conditions that vary case to case. Implant placement that ignores bone volume or active gum disease fails at a materially higher rate. This is elective surgery with permanent stakes, and the person doing it matters more than any practice's marketing.
What Actually Separates a Good Outcome
Five things worth checking before you choose.
Training: a periodontist is not a general dentist
Every periodontist finishes dental school, then completes three additional years of residency training focused entirely on gum tissue, bone, and the structures that support teeth. A general dentist can place a simple implant or do a basic graft. Complex cases, extensive bone loss, sinus proximity, a prior failed implant, aesthetic zones near the smile line, benefit from someone whose only specialty is this tissue. Ask where a candidate trained and how long ago. UCLA, USC, and a handful of other academic programs produce most of LA's periodontists. Training pedigree is a checkable fact, not a marketing claim.
Case volume: ask for the number, not the adjective
“Experienced” means nothing on its own. A periodontist who has placed a few hundred implants over a career is in a different position than one who has placed several thousand. Volume matters most in bone grafting and gum grafting specifically, techniques with a real learning curve where outcomes measurably improve with repetition. It's a fair, normal question for a consultation: how many of this exact procedure have you personally done. A confident answer with a real number is a good sign. A vague answer is worth noting.
Technology: 3D imaging and implant systems
Cone beam 3D imaging shows bone volume, nerve position, and sinus proximity before a single cut is made. This is standard of care for implant planning now, not an upgrade. Ask whether it's used for every case, not just complex ones. Ask which implant systems the practice places. Established platforms with decades of published outcome data behind them are a different bet than an unfamiliar brand chosen for cost. A practice that can't answer this specifically is worth a second opinion.
How the consultation itself should feel
A real periodontal consultation includes a full exam, a review of existing imaging or a referral for new imaging, and a plain explanation of what's actually happening in your mouth before any procedure gets proposed. You should leave understanding your own diagnosis, not just the treatment being sold to you. If a consultation feels rushed, or treatment gets proposed before a real exam happens, that's a signal worth taking seriously, not a formality to push past.
Reviews and referral patterns tell you something real
Patient reviews matter, but the more useful signal is who refers to a periodontist. When general dentists, and especially physicians outside dentistry entirely, send their own family members to a specific periodontist, that's trust earned from people who actually see the outcomes, not the marketing. It's a fair question to ask directly at a consultation: do other doctors refer their own families to you.
Bring This With You
Six questions worth
asking directly.
Any periodontist confident in their own work will answer these plainly, without getting defensive. That reaction is itself useful information.
How many of this exact procedure have you personally performed?
Do you use 3D imaging for implant planning, and is it standard for every case?
Which implant system do you use, and why that one?
What happens if a graft doesn't take, or an implant fails to integrate?
Do other dentists or physicians refer their own family members to you?
What does recovery actually look like, week by week?
For Context, Not a Pitch
What these criteria look like
applied to one practice.
Dr. Sharyar Baradaran completed his DDS and Master of Science in Periodontology at UCLA and has practiced periodontics in Beverly Hills for over 32 years, placing thousands of implants. Every implant case is planned with 3D imaging. Cardiologists, oncologists, and internists across Los Angeles refer their own family members to him, a referral pattern built over three decades rather than through advertising. Patients rate the practice 5 stars across more than 350 verified reviews on Google, Yelp, and Healthgrades.
None of that replaces your own consultation, and it shouldn't. It's simply what the criteria above look like applied to one practice, so you have a real comparison point wherever you decide to go. If it's useful, Dr. Baradaran's office is at 120 S. Spalding Drive in Beverly Hills, serving West Hollywood, Bel Air, Westwood, Santa Monica, and the greater Los Angeles area.
Three ways to start
Start something
beautiful.
Pick a time on Dr. Baradaran's calendar, call the office directly, or send him a question first. Every path goes to a real person.
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120 S. Spalding Drive, Suite 201 · Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Most major insurance plans accepted. Financing options available.