Our story began with Dr. Gordon L. Pattison, who received his D.D.S. degree from the USC School of Dentistry in 1971. After completing his periodontics specialty training at Boston University in 1975, he served as a professor both at USC and UCLA’s School of Dentistry. He also went on to found the practice in 1978.
The practice was run and managed by Dr. Pattison for over 40 years, but he recently retired and has passed the torch to his mentee and long-time friend Dr. Rana Shahi. Dr. Shahi is a Board Certified Periodontist who specializes in Periodontics and Implant Dentistry. She received her D.D.S. degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry in 2011. She continued her training at the Loyola University Medical Center, completing her General Practice Residency in 2015. Subsequently, she went on to earn her specialty treating in Periodontics at Indiana University School of Dentistry, earning her degree in Periodontics.
The personal story of Dr. Shahi and Dr. Pattison is just as remarkable. During Dr. Pattison’s time as a full-time professor at USC School of Dentistry, Department of Periodontics, he met and trained Dr. Shahi’s mother, Dr. Farideh Amin.
While Dr. Shahi's mother was completing her training, she was pregnant with Dr. Shahi, so Dr. Pattison likes to say that she began studying periodontics in utero. The Pattison and Shahi families became friends and have remained friends all these years while Dr. Shahi was growing up, going to college, and choosing a career path.
As fate would have it, Dr. Pattison was looking to sell his practice at the same time that Dr. Shahi was looking for a dental practice. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Since both Dr. Shahi and Dr. Pattison have such a shared history, the familiar and warm feeling at the office is something extraordinary. Even though Dr. Pattison has retired, patients feel as if they’re visiting an extension of their own family when they come to LA Periodontics & Implant Specialists for their dental services.
According to Dr. Shahi, she says that her experience so far has been wonderful. "With Dr. Pattison’s patients, you can see they all felt so comfortable when they came here. They trusted him and this office with their care, and now they have transferred that trust to me. It’s refreshing to see that. When people I meet find out I'm a dentist, they tell me they've had such a bad experience or they don't trust their dentist. But with our patients, it's the complete opposite.
I think Dr. Pattison did such an amazing job of setting the foundation for a great practice. He built and ran this incredible practice for 40 years, and then he handed it to me, and I am so grateful that he trusted me and had faith in me. I'm also grateful for how much I learned from him."
According to our patients, some of the best things about our office are the staff, the level of professionalism, expertise, and warmth. In reviews, patients have mentioned loving their experience, finding dental surgery enjoyable and fun, and that Dr. Shahi and our team do an excellent job of putting all of our patients at ease in what can often be an uncomfortable situation. They trust us with their care, and that makes us all very happy to know that.
Our dentist and staff are highly trained and devoted to using state-of-the-art dental procedures to restore and enhance the beauty of our patients' natural smiles. We offer services as basic as a dental exam and diagnosis as well as performing dental implants, soft tissue gum grafts, tooth extractions, and more.
LA Periodontics & Implant Specialists strives to provide the best possible care for our patients while creating an office space that is welcoming and comfortable and makes people look forward to coming to the dentist.
If your teeth require just a cleaning or a little more than that, we hope that LA Periodontics & Implant Specialists will be at the top of your list when it comes to finding a periodontist office that will meet all of your needs. We would love to see you.