Essendon Dentist

Archive for February, 2010

Aesthetic Dentistry In Essendon

Everywhere in Essendon and all over the internet, we see a lot of advertisements from dental clinics but the one thing in common among these are the models’ flashing beautiful smiles. Marketing beauty has never failed. The good news is that there are so many available dental procedures with the aim of improving dental imperfections and the fees are also varying. Oh yes, some of these are actually affordable. Pick up that mirror and take a closer look if maybe your teeth are chipped, discolored, crowded or you just want your teeth to look like that of Kate Hudson’s, it is doable and possibly affordable.

But first, education of current aesthetic dental treatment options is very important. Read on before rushing to call your trusted dentist in Essendon.

1. Teeth Whitening.  Teeth whitening has been one of the favorite dental treatments in Essendon. This is available for chairside treatment (in the dental clinic) and at-home treatment.

The chairside treatment is performed in the dental office and is usually aided by a laser. The whitening agent used is more potent and gum protection must be diligently put into place first before beginning the procedure. The whitening effect is instant and teeth actually whitens a bit more for around 2 weeks after the procedure. At-home teeth whitening kits are also popular since this is cheaper. The whitening effect can be seen after a few days. There are a lot of brands to choose from. Some dental patients prefer to use it at night while some prefer to use it during the day. At-home kits that take longer to effect are generally cheaper. Some are readily available in the market while some comes with a customized mouth tray from your dentist.

1. Porcelain Veneers, Crowns  and Bridges. These are specially designed for the patient. Teeth shape and color are custom-made to improve the patient’s appearance and to correct chewing difficulties as well. Most dental clinics in Essendon have in-house dental technicians as well for a clear and timely communication between dentist, dental technician and patient. There are a lot of choices of materials to be used and this is where a clear communication is very important. Veneers are very pleasing to the eyes but the patient must be made to understand that a lot of care is needed as it is placed on the tooth in the same manner as acrylic nails are placed on the nail bed. Crowns and Bridges demand utmost oral hygiene on the patient’s entire life. The number one cause of dental prosthetic failure is gum disease brought about by the patient’s lack of oral hygiene. Crowns and Bridges can be made of porcelain, ceramics, stainless metal, gold, or a combination of any of these.
2. Tooth-Colored Dental Fillings. In Essendon, these are by far the most economical choice of treatment. These are also tooth-colored and most patients request for their existing amalgam fillings to be replaced with these. These are also suitable for smaller caries on the front teeth. For some patients that have bigger carious lesions on their front teeth but cannot afford dental crowns, dental fillings are also being used although this is not exactly the ideal treatment. Dental fillings are only chemically bound to the tooth tissue and the patient must be careful in their choice of food intake. Say, a patient who had a considerably big filling on their front tooth cannot bite on an apple or the filling might be dislodged.
3. Porcelain Inlays/Onlays. An Inlay is an indirect filling (fabricated separately by a dental technician), either made of stainless metal or porcelain, fitted to a cavity in a tooth and cemented into place. An Onlay is the same as an inlay except that it extends to replace a tooth cusp. Technically speaking, crowns are onlays which completely cover all surfaces of a tooth. Placement of onlays or inlays has been an old and tested dental technique but the materials being used for these now are also tooth-colored. Most Essendon dental practitioners employ this method for significantly large carious lesions in the molar area. Instead of placing a dental crown, placing an onlay will significantly save healthy tooth tissue since there is minimal tooth preparation to accommodate the onlay unlike the tooth preparation process for a crown. If a patient demands the best treatment available for even their smallest caries and is willing to pay the price, this would be the treatment of choice.
4. Dental Implants. This is a rather new technique and this requires Essendon dentists to have a considerable amount of time for additional training. Titanium roots are being embedded in the jaw bone and this would hold the prosthetic tooth in place. Some use the implants to enhance denture retention. This procedure is surgical and not all patients are suitable for this procedure. The maintenance is also a big consideration. Clearly, this procedure is for Essendon dental patients who can afford it and have the diligence to obey their dentist’s homecare instructions. Lastly, underlying bone on the gum area has the tendency to recede (shrink). This would be the very bone that would hold the implants and this possible scenario must be thoroughly discussed with the dentist.

How To Choose A Dentist In Essendon

Looking for a dentist in Essendon, or as most people prefer it nowadays, shopping for a dentist can be really tricky. Wikipedia says that Essendon had a population of 18,213 in the 2006 Census report. Certainly, dentist shopping in Essendon shouldn’t be that troublesome?

Dental patients, whether from Essendon or from any other part of the world are basically looking for the magic word whenever they ask around for a dentist: painless. The first 2 questions that really matter – “Do you know a good dentist in Essendon?” and “Was it painful when you had your teeth done by that dentist?”

What we need to understand, however, before looking for that dreamy dentist in Essendon is that we have to look at ourselves first.  Before we give the guidelines on how to look for a dentist, we have to categorize first on what type of dental patient are we.

1. Age. Perhaps we are asking our Essendon neighbors and friends who their dentists are but what we didn’t know is that they probably took their kids or their grandmother to the dentist. Each dentist has their own specialization. Operative techniques for adults and children are indeed similar but still different. Children will have a better chance of receiving the best dental care if handled by a trained Pedodontist or Pediatric Dentist, and the same goes for aged dental patients who should be handled by a dentist who is trained in Geriatric Dentistry.
2. Budget. Quite understandably, we cannot walk in to the poshest dental clinic in Essendon if we do not have the budget to back it up. But truth be told, the most expensive dentist in Essendon does not necessarily make him the best dentist in Essendon. Their dental equipment are most definitely state of the art and they are probably trained by the best dental schools on the planet but in the end, beauty is still in the eye of the beholder. On the other hand, we can not accuse our dentists of not giving us the best dental treatment there is if, say, our infected tooth was pulled out instead of Root Canal Therapy and a dental crown when clearly, we do not have the budget or our insurance policy simply do not cover it.
3. Expectations. Are we going to the dental clinic while thinking of that hit reality show “The Swan?” Or perhaps we scheduled an oral prophylaxis but also scheduled a business meeting just 1hour after  only to realize that the dentist diagnosed a periodontitis or chronic gum infection that needed a longer and immediate dental procedure.
4. Location. If the best Orthodontist in Essendon is an hour away from where you live, this is definitely going to be a problem. Orthodontic treatment is just one of the many other dental procedures that require a patient to visit the dental office on a regular basis for a certain period of time.  A good dentist is without a doubt worth the travel wherever he or she may be in Essendon but then again, we have to be prepared of the implications.
5. Pain tolerance. Most patients are already aware, whether they admit it or not, of their pain threshold. If a friend says that their dentist in Essendon is just fabulous and that they had the best dental treatment ever, we cannot really confront them after an excruciating dental experience on this referral. Pain tolerance or threshold is not our fault. Other people may be physically trained for pain but for normal Joe’s and Jane’s like us, it is not our fault and the dentists are perfectly aware of this that people do have varying pain thresholds. There are children that still manage to laugh during an injection and the story of big muscular men who scream during dental procedures is not really unheard of.

Most of us already know what they want in a dentist but a few tips and need-to-know’s when looking for a dentist wouldn’t hurt. There are more or less 15 dentists on Essendon with websites or with their names available on search engines. Is the one with the best looking website the best among of them? Probably yes and still probably no. They hired the best web graphic designer, that one’s for sure.

And this brings us back to the question, how do we look for the best dentist in Essendon? Is he or she someone who will watch our children grow? Here are a few tips, not exactly rules, but just  a few guides.

1. The dentist must be someone who can be your friend. If the dentist is someone who is high and mighty and he makes sure that you know it every second of the dental procedure, he may be the best dentist in Essendon and his dental work may be excellent but it is essential that a patient always enjoy their dental visit. A pleasant dental visit will make us always look forward to the next visit and this is vital in our oral health as a whole.
2. The dentist must be someone we can trust. This would be the tricky part. We have to rely on good old gut feeling. All dentists received training and certification so that they can practice their profession but if we can find the dentist whose main goal every morning is to promote oral health care and takes pleasure on the idea that they have contributed a lot on their patients’ welfare, that one’s a keeper. We have to know whether a dentist looks at us as a patient who needs help or as a customer who must find a way to pay his fees.

Being a dentist in Essendon is quiet a competitive business. When you search for the words “Essendon Dentist” in Google Australia there are 13,600 results. This does not mean that their are 13,600 Essendon dental business, it simply means that there are over 13,000 pages which have the term “Essendon Dentist” somewhere on it. Upon investigating these results further I have found that there are over 15 dentists based in Essendon competing to be number one in Google for phrases in like Essendon Dentist.

Here is a short list of the business competing for number 1 in Google for the phrase “Essendon Dentist“.

• Essendon Dental Group
• First Bite Dental Surgery
• Dental Essence
• Phan Nathan Dr
• Mcmahon Paul Rd
• Bentick Craig Dr
• Brennen SK
• Matthews John E
• Adamczyk Elizabeth Dr
• Essendon Periodontics
• Goldman D Dr
• Kiriazia John
• Roy Judge Dr
• Condon Gerard Dr
• Easkins S Dr
• Bergman John Dr
• Gwyther Rhonda F

This list could be potentially over 50 if I was to include surrounding suburbs like Moonee Ponds, Brunswick and many others..

There are currently over 300 people searching for the exact phrase “Essendon Dentist” every month in Google alone. That means that including other search variations like “dentist in Essendon” ,“Essendon teeth whitening” and “Dentist check ups in Essendon” on all the other search engines people use like Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista, Dog plie and may others. It is a quite concretive to estimate that there are over 1,000 people in Essendon actively looking for a dentist to spend there money at every month. That equals over 52,000 potential customers for your business

Now I bet you are beginning to imagine that if you were to get 2% of the people searching for Essendon dentist each month that would be 20 new customers. If you are making $120 profit per customers that is over $120,000 in profit, not even taking in to account the life time value of the customers.

I can help you grow your business by getting you a regular stream of local clients looking for an Essendon dentist. And best of all you only pay for results. If I don’t provide you with any clients you don’t pay anything! I am talking about pay per performance marketing.
Many businesses are frustrated paying thousands of dollars for an ad in the Yellow Pages each year and having no idea how many customers are being generated as a result.
Pay per performance marketing means that a business just like your Essendon dentist pays an agreed amount for each new valid customer generated on behalf of the business.

To find out more, Give me a call on 0418396130

Regards, Jack