From its Ottawa clinic overlooking the Greenbelt and Gatineau Hills, Capital Periodontics treats patients with severe gum and bone loss, gum recession and complex implant needs, including cases referred by other dental professionals.
Photography by Nicolai Gregory.
Dr. Avi Shelemay, founder of Capital Periodontics, has spent three decades in specialty practice, including years of advanced international training that he now draws on as both a clinician and lecturer.
Inside Ottawa’s Capital Perio, where advanced periodontal care, bone regeneration and digital technology are changing what is possible for patients.
Dr. Avi Shelemay knew early that dentistry suited him. Scientifically inclined and drawn to precise work with his hands, he pursued dental school before completing a hospital-based residency, where treating patients with complex needs introduced him to the world of specialty care.
Periodontics ultimately offered the combination he was looking for: science, surgery, problem-solving and the biology of healing. Today, after three decades in practice, Shelemay is the periodontist behind Capital Perio, an Ottawa specialty clinic treating everything from gum disease and recession to advanced bone loss and complex dental implant cases.
While most of us are familiar with what a dentist does, periodontics is a distinct specialty requiring an additional three to four years of full-time accredited residency training, often alongside a master’s degree, followed by a fellowship examination. General dentists oversee a patient’s overall oral health, while periodontists specialize in the structures supporting the teeth, particularly the gums and jawbone, as well as dental implant treatment.
At Capital Perio, many patients arrive through referrals from their dentists, particularly for complex cases, although a referral is not required. The clinic also welcomes patients directly and sees many who have been recommended by existing patients.
“A reputation is not built through promotion or a few successful cases,” Shelemay says. “It is earned gradually through consistent work, honest communication and treating patients and colleagues with respect.”
That reputation has increasingly made Capital Perio a destination for patients dealing with severe gum or bone loss, challenging anatomy or multiple interconnected problems involving their teeth, bite and appearance. The clinic works collaboratively with general dentists and other specialists, looking at the mouth as a complete system rather than treating individual teeth in isolation.
One of Shelemay’s particular areas of expertise is bone regeneration, something that can fundamentally change the options available after tooth loss. When a tooth is lost, the gum and bone that once supported it can gradually disappear. Without sufficient bone, placing a dental implant can become difficult or, in severe cases, seemingly impossible.
Shelemay travelled to Budapest to study under Professor Istvan Urban, an internationally recognized leader in bone regeneration.
After completing an intensive three-month program, he continued returning to Budapest for further training and conferences. Today, Shelemay also lectures and shares his own clinical experience using the techniques Urban pioneered.
“The greatest reward is being able to help patients who were previously told that dental implants were not an option because they lacked sufficient bone,” he says.
Modern regeneration combines a better understanding of how the body rebuilds tissue with specialized grafting materials and highly precise surgical techniques. Rather than applying the same solution to every patient, Shelemay emphasizes matching the approach to the individual anatomy and type of bone defect. His philosophy is surprisingly low-tech for someone who works with some very high-tech equipment: new tools are only as effective as the person using them.
That same philosophy shapes one of Capital Perio’s most technologically advanced treatments. For patients who have lost, or are at risk of losing, most or all of their teeth, full-arch implant treatment can replace them with a fixed set supported by dental implants. In appropriate cases, failing teeth can be removed, implants placed and temporary fixed teeth provided all on the same day.
The work begins well before surgery. Using 3D imaging, digital scans and photographs, the team studies everything from the patient’s bite to facial proportions and aesthetic goals. Implant positions and the new smile are planned digitally before the procedure begins.
On surgery day, Capital Perio uses a fully digital workflow and 3D printing technology to create a customized temporary restoration within hours. The teeth are refined to suit the patient’s appearance, bite and facial features before being secured to the implants, allowing them to leave later that day with fixed teeth rather than a removable denture.
The temporary smile also serves an important purpose. Over the following months, while the bone and gums heal, the team can assess its appearance, speech, comfort and function before creating the final teeth.
To coordinate these complex cases, Capital Perio established Arch Alliance, bringing its surgical expertise together with the restorative dentist and dental laboratory from the earliest stages of planning through surgery, restoration and long-term care.
“The technology is exciting,” Shelemay says, “but the real innovation lies in combining it with sound biological principles, experience and a truly collaborative approach.”
That collaborative approach extends throughout Capital Perio. Shelemay is quick to shift attention from himself to the people around him. Every member of the clinic is expected to understand not only what is being done, but why, allowing patients to receive consistent answers and support from their first call through surgery and long-term maintenance.
“Great treatment is never the work of one individual,” he says. “It depends on a team with the right expertise, a shared philosophy and a sincere commitment to making every patient feel that they are in capable and caring hands.”
It is the same idea Shelemay had when he first opened Capital Perio: to create the kind of specialty practice he would trust with someone in his own family. Technology has changed dramatically since then. What hasn’t changed is the standard he uses to judge it. If an innovation doesn’t ultimately produce better, more predictable care for the patient, it doesn’t belong at the centre of the conversation.
