Areas we serve
Dentist in Melaleuca
The nearest practice to Melaleuca, and one that will tell you honestly how often you actually need to come.
Six months is the number everybody has heard, and for most people it is about right. It is not right for everybody, and a practice that says six months to every patient regardless is not really giving advice.
Some people carry very low decay risk: good enamel, sensible diet, no gum disease, nothing new for years. Those people can often go longer between examinations, and telling them so is part of the job.
Others need to come more often than six months, not less, and that is the half of this nobody advertises. Active gum disease, a dry mouth from medication, or a run of new cavities all mean three or four months for a while, until it settles.
From Melaleuca
We are west of Melaleuca, at 92 Greenfields Circle, Hocking WA 6065.
Directions from Melaleuca(08) 9306 2755Before you book
Questions we get from Melaleuca
- Do I really need to come every six months?
- Most people benefit from it, but it is a starting point rather than a rule. Ask at your examination what interval suits you and why. If your risk is genuinely low you may be able to go longer, and you should be told that rather than left to work it out.
- When would you want to see someone more often?
- Active gum disease, a dry mouth caused by medication, a period of several new cavities, or recent major work being monitored. Usually three or four months, and usually not forever. It goes back to six once things settle.
- My teeth feel fine. Is there any point coming in?
- Decay and gum disease are both painless for most of their course, which is exactly why they are found at examinations rather than at home. Feeling fine is the normal state right up until the point where the cheap options have gone.
- What decides the interval, if not six months?
- Your own risk, read off the examination: how much decay there has been, how the gums are, whether the mouth is dry, how well the teeth are being cleaned, and what else is going on medically. Low risk can mean twelve months. High risk can mean three.
- If I go twelve months, is anything more likely to be missed?
- Only if the twelve months was the wrong interval for you. The point of setting it from the examination rather than a default is that it matches the rate at which things actually change in your mouth. Where we are not confident, we say six and review it.
- Can the interval change over time?
- It should. It shortens through a period of active treatment or gum disease, and lengthens again once things are stable. A number set once and never revisited is exactly what this is meant to avoid.
How often you actually need to come
The interval should come out of the examination, not out of a policy. Ask what yours should be, and ask why, and you should get an answer with reasons in it.
- 01
- An interval set from your examination rather than a default applied to everyone
- 02
- Told plainly when you need to come more often, and for how long
- 03
- Told just as plainly when you do not, which for some patients is the answer
What we do
Everything a household in Melaleuca is likely to need
What the interval is protecting against, and what happens when it is set too long.
- See the treatment
Preventative Dentistry
A check-up and a clean, every six months
- See the treatment
Family Dentistry
Every age in the family, one practice
- See the treatment
Fillings
Tooth-coloured composite, usually one visit
- See the treatment
Emergency dentistry
Same-day appointments for pain and breakages
- See the treatment
Crowns
A cap that rebuilds a broken tooth
- See the treatment
Dentures
Full and partial, made from your own impressions
Booking
Book from Melaleuca
Come in for an examination and ask what interval suits you. You may be told less often than you expected, and that is a legitimate answer.