MEET OUR TEAM

Dr. Julie C. Swift grew up in Wichita. While she was in dental school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, her mother was told she had gingival recession. Dr. Swift suggested she be evaluated by one of the residents in UM-KC’s graduate periodontics program; her mother proceeded with gum grafting procedures at the school. Dr. Swift assisted the surgical resident and that is when she learned first-hand what a periodontist does; she knew immediately it was something she wanted to pursue. While finishing the last two years of dental school, Dr. Swift worked in the periodontal clinic as a student assistant one afternoon per week. She also participated in the Honors Oral Surgery program her fourth year to gain more experience with difficult extractions before heading down to Baylor School of Dentistry in Dallas, Texas, where she spent three additional years completing her Certification in Periodontics as well as earning a Master of Science degree. While in residency she not only perfected her skills in extractions, implants, gum graft surgery and bone grafting to save teeth, but also learned how to accurately diagnose and manage gingivitis and periodontitis, both of which are inflammatory diseases that need to be well controlled so further damage is not spread throughout the body.

 

Upon graduation in 2004, Dr. Swift returned to Kansas and began working with Dr. John S. Stone, who started this practice more than 50 years ago. She purchased the practice in 2006; Dr. Stone worked two more years, and Dr. Swift has been the sole periodontist since then. She and her team help patients manage their oral health and educate them about whatever periodontal procedures they might need, whether it is a deep cleaning/scaling and root planing, gum grafting, bone grafting to help with any bone loss surrounding the teeth, or even extractions prior to having implants placed. The Topeka Periodontics team cares for their patients, and they take time to follow through on the appropriate course of treatment to improve the patient’s health. Dr. Swift is conservative in her treatment approach; she does not rush into surgery if a non-surgical option can accomplish the goals she and the patient desire.  However, she does not shy away from surgical procedures or extractions when necessary. 

 

Dr. Swift has served as a member of several boards of directors in Topeka throughout the years, including Topeka Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka Community Foundation, The Women’s Fund and March of Dimes. She also is a regular volunteer with a local public elementary school. In 2007 Dr. Swift was a co-chair of the Kansas Mission of Mercy project held at the Kansas Expocentre; she was part of the planning committee and a volunteer when it returned to Topeka in 2016. She was honored in 2010 as one of Topeka’s “20 under 40” and also was named to the 2012 “Leadership Greater Topeka” class. She regularly attends continuing education classes to keep up with the latest periodontal and implant procedures and was honored to attend the commencement ceremony when she was inducted as a Fellow in the American College of Dentistry. 

 

When Dr. Swift is not working in the practice, she keeps busy with her teenage daughter (who helps assist in the summers now that she is old enough), her husband, dog and two cats. She has made almost 100 quilts, a couple of which hang in the office, and she sewed numerous cloth masks and scrub caps at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She enjoys cooking, reading, traveling and helping other dentists understand the business side of practice ownership.