How do patients benefit from by choosing our practice?

   Dentists generally graduate from universities at the young age of 22-24!

   I was one of them back in 1978 and what I  knew then,   in comparison to what I know now MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the quality

   of care my patients receive.

 It's understandable that every new graduate has a limited set of skills to start with. Over many years, these basic        skills improve by  attending a variety of advanced courses and by trying to solve the myriad of problems with which patients present      to our practices every day.

   Accordingly, there is a learning curve and each practitioner reaches their own personal optimal level at different times.  I have found

   this out during my career by employing many young and inexperienced dentists as well as those who have been practising for a few

   decades.

  It's been amazing to see the immense differences in skills and attitudes to preventive care among these practitioners. As a result              of these experiences I can share this word of wisdom with you ......... if your dentist is not diligently trying to PREVENT dental disease

  from damaging your dentition or if your dentist is recommending RADICAL treatments such as multiple fillings, extractions, crowns,

  implants etc ... GET ANOTHER OPINION!

   As the senior dental surgeon in our practice,  I regularly share my lifetime of experiences with my assistant dentists and ensure that

   they are taking care of all our patients with a conservative preventive approach. 

   There are three basic steps by which we approach our patients' preventive care:

   1. Educate them about diet, proper brushing and flossing techniques to protect and preserve their natural dentition and jawbones

   2. Protect the teeth with fluoride and fissure sealants before decay sets in and if there are cavities which need to be treated with

       fillings, to use minimally invasive and virtually painless techniques to preserve the strength of the remaining natural

       tooth structure, even if it means placing porcelain crowns over them to avoid further decay, fractures and potential for root canal

       therapies or extractions

   3. Protect the bone that provides support and strength to the teeth by avoiding or treating gum disease, but if it has advanced too

       far,  to preserve the remaining bone by removing the infected teeth and regenerating what has been lost to allow for successful               treatments with implants and porcelain crowns to replace the missing teeth.  

Chatswood Preventive Dentists © Copyright. All Rights Reserved.

A Note About Our Preventive Dental Practice

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The relationship we have with our patients, the loyal and wonderful people who attend our practice, is based on the commitment my staff and I have to preventive and conservative dental care for each individual. At every stage, we aim to prevent the next phase of dental destruction and if treatment is required, to perform conservative options rather than radical procedures. All of our patients will testify to the validity of this statement!

Our aim is to prevent the potential problems and pain that your teeth and gums can cause, with the intention of reducing the amount of time you need to spend in the dental chair and ultimately,  reducing the unnecessary expenses brought about by these problems.

It is pleasing to know that most of our patients only require an annual check-up to confirm that they are performing all the necessary steps to prevent potentially destructive dental diseases. More often than not, a general scaling and cleaning of the teeth is performed followed by a topical fluoride application, thereby completing the annual preventive visit. That's as much as you should need in this day and age! Of course, little problems like a chipped tooth or replacement of a fractured filling may require some minor attention, but that is all you should expect, especially if you were not brought up in a fluoridated area during your childhood. 

​​​9411 6300
Speak With Shannon or Jenny 

​Hours
Monday - Friday  8am - 4pm

CHATSWOOD

PREVENTIVE DENTISTS

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​Suite 205    

7 Help Street     

Chatswood      

NSW     2067

​With over 20 years working together as a team, Shannon (dressed in black) and Jenny (in her uniform) have come to know our patients as dear friends. Pictured here with one of our loyal patients with whom we have enjoyed a special relationship for over 35 years, the three of us form the core team at Chatswood Preventive Dentists. We consider every one of our patients as a valued friend whose dental health is our responsibility as we do our best to care for them. We consider it a privilege to serve them, especially when we consider all the other clinics that are available to them throughout Sydney. They enrich our lives just as much as we enrich theirs. We invite you to call 9411 6300 to discuss your dental needs with Shannon or Jenny and allow us to establish a personal relationship with you also.

What you can expect from our practice if you decide to seek our services.

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Currently, we can divide the population into two broad categories:

The Fluoride Generation and the Pre-Fluoride Generation.

Generally speaking, the majority of patients born in Sydney after 1968 have had a good exposure to fluoride in the water supply during the first 10 years of life when the permanent teeth are forming under the gums. This generation has also generally been brought up with a good understanding of the need to brush one's teeth and to be conscious about the excessive intake of sugar in one's diet.

This has resulted in a REDUCTION of over 90% in the amount of tooth decay and dental treatments required to restore damaged teeth.  

Hence, if you belong to this category, you should continue with daily brushing and flossing to maintain your healthy condition and to prevent potential gum disease in the future. Even though you may not be subject to tooth decay, inefficient or insufficient oral hygiene (especially flossing) will result in gingivitis and eventual periodontal (gum) disease, a condition which can lead to the loss of multiple teeth at a time.

In contrast, the Pre-Fluoride Generation, have had varying degrees of dental repair, ranging from just a few fillings, to a mouth where not only is every tooth heavily restored with fillings, crowns and root canal therapies, but a number of diseased teeth may have been extracted. This generation suffers constantly with the need for repairs to chips and fractures of both old fillings and brittle tooth structure, often requiring crowns and at times, if unsalvageable,  requiring extraction.  

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For the Fluoride Generation, dental visits are simple, usually requiring an annual visit for a simple examination, cleaning and scaling followed by a fluoride treatment. X-ray films are required regularly and I have found that every 3-4 years is as often as they need to be done ...... the majority of the time, finding nothing that requires treatment! The fee for an annual preventive visit may range from $275 to $385 ..... a minimal expense over one's lifetime in comparison to the expenses incurred by the Pre-Fluoride Generation which can be multiple thousands every few years!

If you belong to this latter group, you know what I mean! You have had to endure the endless hours of treatment to have multiple fillings in your teenage years, followed by the occasional toothache which has resulted in one or two root canal therapies or extractions ....... and to top it off, your teeth have had a few, or in many cases, multiple broken corners over the years, resulting in costly porcelain crowns and bridges. You may have even reached the stage where such root-filled teeth, even though crowned, have failed and needed to be extracted, only to be replaced with partial dentures, bridges or implants!

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So, what CAN you expect from me and my staff when we meet you and provide an opinion about your dental condition?

Very simply, based on a lifetime of experiencing and witnessing human emotions, needs and wants, coupled with over 40 years of experience and study of the human dentition and dentistry in general, the principle by which we operate our practice can be summed up as follows: NOTHING that dentists can create to replace missing tooth structure, whether it be silver, resin, gold or ceramic fillings, porcelain crowns, dentures or even sophisticated implants CAN BE AS GOOD AS YOUR NATURAL TEETH ...... and most importantly, that NO-ONE really likes having dental treatments, if they can be avoided! 

For our patients, this means that we make every effort to KEEP YOUR NATURAL TEETH IN THEIR NATURAL STATE by helping you to understand WHY your teeth are in their current condition and to PROTECT you from the NEXT STAGE OF POTENTIAL DESTRUCTION.

Once you understand what is going on and how to prevent future problems, the stage is set for a lifetime that can be free of unpleasant and costly dental treatments. That's our goal for each of our patients and a goal that the vast majority of them keep achieving, year-in, year-out.

If you decide to call our practice, you will speaking with either Shannon or Jenny, experienced ladies with whom I have had the pleasure to work for over two decades!  Please feel free to comfortably discuss your problems with them and let them know your main concerns. They will ensure that I am well-informed before we meet so that your needs may be addressed as efficiently as possible. Remember, no matter what condition your dental health is in currently, we will always focus on providing you with preventive and conservative dental care to protect you into the future.

I trust this information has been helpful and look forward to being of assistance to you and your family.

Dr. Joseph Shohmelian and the team at Chatswood Preventive Dentists