Complimentary Smile Consultation

A 60-minute discussion about cosmetic treatment options, pricing and payment plans. A $50 refundable deposit secures the appointment.

Read this first, because it is the most important sentence on the page:

This appointment is a discussion only. It does not include a check-up, radiographs, scans, diagnosis or any clinical treatment.

What the appointment involves

1. Meet a treatment consultant. You discuss what you want changed — shape, shade, alignment, or replacing teeth that are cracked or chipped or missing — and what a good result would mean to you.

2. Explore the options. Which treatments could address what you have described, roughly how each works, and guidance on pricing and payment plan options.

3. Records for a mock-up. Photographs and digital scans are taken so that a physical mock-up can be tried in your mouth at a following appointment, letting you see an approximation of the result before you commit to anything.

A note on step 3, stated plainly: the practice's own material describes the complimentary consultation as a discussion that does not include scans, and describes photographs and scans being taken. Read it as: the complimentary hour is the conversation; records are taken at or for the subsequent mock-up appointment. Ask when you book which appointment includes what, and whether any fee attaches to the records. You are entitled to a clear answer before you attend.

Who you are meeting, and what they can and cannot do

This matters and it is rarely spelt out.

A treatment consultant is a practice role, not a registered health profession. Treatment consultants are not registered dental practitioners. They can explain options, show you cases, and quote prices.

They cannot diagnose, examine, or tell you what treatment you need — and nor can anyone, on any information short of a clinical examination.

So a complimentary consultation cannot tell you:

• whether you have decay, gum disease, or a cracked tooth;
• whether your teeth and gums can support the treatment being discussed;
• whether a cheaper or more conservative option would give you a better long-term outcome;
• whether you need any of it at all.

Every one of those requires an examination by a registered dentist. A consultation is the sales-and-scoping conversation; the clinical decision comes afterwards, from a clinician, and it can overrule everything discussed in the hour. Where the work is complex, that clinician may be a registered specialist.

That is not a criticism of the format — it is how it is meant to work. It only becomes a problem if you leave believing you have had a clinical opinion.

What a mock-up actually shows you, and why it is the best part

The trial smile — a mock-up placed directly on your teeth — is the single most useful thing in cosmetic dentistry, and it is under-used across the profession.

• It is made from a diagnostic wax-up, a physical model of the proposed result. The wax-up is where the design problems get solved — cheaply, before anything is done to a tooth.
• It goes in your mouth, without your teeth being prepared. You can see it in daylight, photograph it, speak with it, and show it to someone who will tell you the truth.
• It converts a conversation into a decision you can actually make. ‘Whiter and straighter’ means nothing until you can see it on your own face.
• If you do not like it, nothing has been lost. That is precisely the point, and it is why the sequence matters: wax-up, then trial smile, then — only then — preparation.

A digital simulation on a screen is not the same thing, and should not be treated as one. Ask for the physical trial in your mouth. Why there are no before-and-after images on this site is the same argument from the other direction.

The questions worth asking in the hour

Take this list with you. Each one now has the answer with it — not so that you skip asking, but so that you can tell a full answer from a thin one.

1. ‘How much tooth is removed, and is it reversible?’

Porcelain veneers and crowns are irreversible — healthy enamel is removed permanently, and the tooth will need a restoration for the rest of its life. Whitening, orthodontics and composite bonding are far more conservative. Ask for the conservative option to be explained even if you do not choose it.

The amounts have been measured, and the gap between designs is larger than most people expect. Edelhoff and Sorensen weighed idealised preparations in the Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry in 2002 and reported, by weight of the unprepared crown of the tooth: 8.2% for a partial veneer, 16.7% for a traditional facial veneer, 22.1% for an extended veneer and 30% for a complete veneer — against 64% and 70% for all-ceramic crown preparations and 71.9% for a metal-ceramic crown. Their own summary was that veneer preparations required “approximately one-quarter to one-half the amount of tooth reduction of conventional complete-coverage crowns”. Two qualifications belong with those figures: the study was in vitro, on artificial typodont anterior teeth, ten specimens per design, so it measures what each design requires rather than what any clinician removed from a particular tooth — and the percentages are by weight of the crown, not of surface area.

So the useful form of the question is not ‘is it a lot?’ but ‘which of those designs is planned for my tooth, and why not the one below it?’ On reversibility, healthdirect Australia is blunt: “Your dental professional fixes veneers to the surface of your teeth. You can't take veneers off.” See What are my options if I want to change the shape of my teeth?

2. ‘What is the least you could do that would get me most of the way there?’

The most useful question anyone asks in cosmetic dentistry, and the one a good answer takes seriously rather than deflecting.

It has a floor that is often left out. Healthdirect Australia lists, first among the alternatives to veneers, the option most practices never mention: “An alternative to veneers is to continue to live with your teeth as they are.” That is the baseline every other option should be measured against.

There is also a technical reason the conservative answer is often the better one. Bonding holds to enamel, and a 2022 study in Materials that prepared 20 intact upper central incisors for laminate veneers found the prepared surfaces left roughly 70% enamel and 30% exposed dentine, noting that this is “above the minimally acceptable for the enamel exposure (40%) required to obtain an efficient bond strength”. Those were intact teeth to begin with. On a tooth already worn, eroded or previously restored there is less enamel to work with, and the restoration you are being offered may be the wrong one for that tooth rather than simply an expensive one.

3. ‘How long will it last, and what happens when it fails?’

Everything fails eventually. Ask what replacement costs and what condition the tooth will be in by then.

Expect the answer as a survival percentage at a stated number of years, not as a lifespan — no authority publishes a lifespan in years for a veneer, and a clinician who offers one is guessing. The largest pooled figure is a systematic review of 25 clinical studies covering 6,500 porcelain laminate veneers in 1,646 patients, which found a 10-year estimated cumulative survival rate of 95.5%, counting fracture, debonding, secondary decay and the need for root canal treatment together as failure. For composite, a 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled the randomised trials at 88% survival (95% CI 81% to 94%) over mean follow-up of 24 to 97 months — a shorter window, and the authors say the two figures are not directly comparable.

Then ask the question that makes any survival figure mean something: counted how? Across that literature, failure was defined as ‘irreparable’ in some studies and ‘reparable but counted as a failure’ in others, and several did not define it at all — which is why published ten-year figures for the same restoration range from the 50s to the 90s. A chip that is polished smooth is a survivor in one study and a failure in the next. See How long do porcelain veneers last?

4. ‘Who is doing the work, and what is their registration?’

‘Cosmetic dentist’ is not a recognised specialty in Australia — the Dental Board of Australia recognises thirteen dental specialties, approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council, and cosmetic dentistry is not among them. A specialist must also have completed a minimum of two years of general dental practice before specialist registration. A general dentist may do excellent cosmetic work; the point is that the title tells you nothing.

AHPRA's advertising guidelines are the reason this matters rather than being a technicality. Specialist titles are protected under the National Law, and it is an offence to use a title suggesting specialist registration a practitioner does not hold — for an individual, a financial penalty of up to $60,000 per offence, imprisonment of up to three years, or both. The guidelines also caution that post-nominal letters must not be “misleading by implying the practitioner has more qualifications, skill or experience than is the case”. So the check is not the wording on the website; it is the entry on the register. Check the person at ahpra.gov.au — it is free and takes under a minute. See Dentists & Registered Specialists.

5. ‘What is the total cost, itemised, with ASDS item numbers?’

In writing, including every appointment, the laboratory work, and anything likely to be needed afterwards.

The reason this cannot be skipped is structural: Australia has no national dental fee schedule, so there is no published reference price against which to judge a quote. The Australian Dental Association's own 2022 fees survey found “considerable variation in the fees charged within and between states”, and a submission to the Senate inquiry into the value and affordability of private health insurance described the consequence for patients as “conflicting diagnoses and widely varying quotes for unpredictable dental fees”, with “no consumer guidelines to ascertain the reasonableness of dental fees charged” — an argument put to an inquiry rather than settled policy, but an accurate description of the gap. What makes two quotes comparable is the item numbers and the exclusions, in writing, from both.

AHPRA's guidelines also bear on how a price may be presented. Advertising may breach the National Law where price information is unclear, inexact or vague, where an instalment amount is stated without the total cost, or where restrictions such as expiry or eligibility are left out. If a figure you are quoted has any of those shapes, ask for the other half of it. See Price Guide.

6. ‘What could go wrong?’

Sensitivity, nerve death requiring root canal treatment, gum recession around margins, chipping, colour mismatch as adjacent teeth age. You are entitled to the material risks — that is the standard set in Rogers v Whitaker.

Healthdirect Australia publishes the consumer version of that list for veneers, and it is worth reading before the appointment rather than during it: your teeth could become more sensitive because some enamel is removed; the veneer can crack or fall off; the colour of your veneers can't be changed after they've been applied; your other teeth may become discoloured, no longer matching your veneers; the edges can show if the gum shrinks; and jaw pain can occur. Healthdirect adds two limits that rule the treatment out for some people: veneers “don't fix tooth decay or problems with your bite”, and “may not be suitable if you grind or clench your teeth or if you have gum disease.”

A plan that names none of these has not been explained to you.

7. ‘Can I take the quote away?’

The answer should be an unhesitating yes. No cosmetic dental decision needs to be made in the room, and a second opinion costs far less than the wrong plan. You are also free to decide not to proceed at all: cosmetic treatment is elective, and sometimes no treatment is the appropriate decision.

If you meet resistance, the vocabulary of it is worth recognising. AHPRA names the phrases directly — “don't delay”, “act now before it's too late”, “don't miss out”, “time is running out”, “for a limited time only” — as creating a sense of urgency that may be unlawful where it is tied to an unsubstantiated suggestion that your health will suffer if you do not act. Section 133 of the National Law separately captures “incentives such as prizes, discounts, bonuses, gifts that would encourage people to use a service regardless of clinical need”. A discount with a deadline on elective treatment is a sales technique, not a clinical recommendation.

If whitening turns out to be the conservative answer

Whitening is usually the least destructive item on the cosmetic list, and it carries a statutory threshold most people have never heard of.

Schedule 10 of the Poisons Standard lists substances “of such danger to health as to warrant prohibition of their sale, supply and use other than in specified exempt circumstances.” It states that teeth whitening products containing more than 6% hydrogen peroxide or 18% carbamide peroxide “may only be sold, supplied and used by registered dental practitioners as part of their dental practise”, and those provisions are formalised in all state and territory poisons legislation. 18% carbamide peroxide approximates 6% hydrogen peroxide — which is why the two figures always travel together.

What that means in the hour: a salon or shopping-centre kiosk cannot lawfully use the concentrations a dental practice can, and anything above those limits is not something a non-practitioner may supply you. It is a genuine difference in product, not only in setting. Teeth Whitening sets out what is used here.

One sequencing point that costs people money when it is missed: ceramic does not whiten. It is matched to the shade of your teeth on the day it is made, so whitening comes before veneers and crowns, never after.

(Source: Australian Dental Association, Policy Statement 2.2.8, Teeth Whitening (Bleaching) By Persons Other Than Dental Practitioners.)

Payment plans — the terms

Payment plan options are available. Where a plan is advertised as interest free, that describes the plan term only — a deposit may be required, an establishment fee and ongoing account fees may apply, and charges can apply if the balance is not cleared within the agreed period. The applicable terms depend on the provider and the amount financed, and are set out in writing before you commit — ask what the deposit and the establishment fee are, in dollars, and what the total will be by the end. Payment Plans.

Before cosmetic treatment: the part that comes first

Cosmetic work is built on top of dental health, not instead of it.

Active decay and gum disease are treated first. Veneering a tooth with untreated periodontal disease produces a good-looking result on a failing foundation, and the gum recession that follows will expose the margins within a few years. Healthdirect names gum disease as one of the two conditions that may make veneers unsuitable altogether.

Grinding and clenching must be addressed too. Porcelain placed in a mouth that grinds without a plan for the grinding will chip, and that is a predictable outcome rather than bad luck. Grinding is the other of healthdirect's two exclusions.

One thing a good practice will say out loud

Sometimes the right answer is no treatment.

A small proportion of people seeking cosmetic dental work are distressed by a perceived flaw that others cannot see, and no amount of dentistry resolves that distress — it usually moves to a different feature. This is a recognised condition (body dysmorphic disorder), and it is a reason for a clinician to slow down and talk rather than treat.

A practice willing to decline treatment is safer than one that never does. Section 133 of the National Law prohibits encouraging the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of health services, and this is exactly the situation the provision exists for.

Common questions

Is the cosmetic consultation actually complimentary?

The discussion itself is complimentary, but the page states that a $50 refundable deposit is required to secure the appointment, returned on attendance. Confirm the current deposit and cancellation terms when booking.

The distinction is one AHPRA takes seriously in advertising generally: it notes that “the public generally consider the word ‘free' to mean ‘absolutely' free”, which is why the deposit and the exclusions are stated here rather than in small print. Calling this a free examination would be inaccurate — it is a free discussion with a refundable deposit attached.

Is this a dental examination?

No. It is a discussion with a treatment coordinator and does not include a check-up, x-rays, scans, diagnosis or treatment. A registered dental practitioner must examine you before recommending or providing clinical treatment.

Can the treatment coordinator tell me which procedure I need?

The coordinator can explain the practice's options, process and likely next steps. They cannot diagnose a condition or replace a clinician's examination. Any final treatment recommendation must follow clinical assessment.

What should I bring?

Bring photographs of results you like and dislike, a list of your priorities and questions, and any relevant information about previous dental work. The examples help clarify preferences; they do not guarantee that the same result is suitable or achievable — a smile you admire may belong to a face shaped quite differently from yours, and may have been produced by a treatment your mouth is not suited to.

Does a mock-up guarantee the final result?

No. A mock-up is a reversible visual and functional preview that can help you discuss shape and proportion before committing. The final appearance still depends on clinical suitability, materials, treatment decisions and individual response.

Do interest-free payment plans have fees?

They can. An advertised interest-free term may still involve a deposit, establishment fee, ongoing account fees or other charges. Ask for the provider's current written terms and the total amount payable before committing. AHPRA's guidelines treat advertising as potentially in breach where an instalment amount is stated without the total cost, so the total is a figure you are entitled to see.

Booking

Phone 13 13 96 or email theteam@smilesolutions.com.au. The $50 deposit is refundable. Bring photographs of results you like and results you do not — the second set is more informative than the first.

Related pages: Complimentary Orthodontic Consultation, Packages & Offers, Price Guide, Payment Plans, Before & After Gallery, Dentists & Registered Specialists, Fix My Teeth, Contact Us.

Practical details

Smile Solutions, Level 1, 220 Collins Street, Manchester Unity Building, Melbourne VIC 3000. Phone 13 13 96, or theteam@smilesolutions.com.au. Monday–Friday 8.00am–6.00pm, Saturday 8.30am–1.30pm, Sunday by appointment.

This page contains general information, not clinical advice. No treatment can be recommended without an examination by a registered dental practitioner. All procedures carry risks and limitations and outcomes vary between patients; you are entitled to seek a second opinion before proceeding. Deposit amounts and appointment formats are subject to change; confirm current details when you book. Payment plan terms are set by the credit provider and change; confirm current terms directly before you commit. Poisons Standard thresholds quoted above are as published by the Australian Dental Association and are subject to change; the current Poisons Standard is published by the Therapeutic Goods Administration. Tooth-reduction percentages are from a laboratory study of idealised preparations on artificial anterior teeth and describe what each design requires, not what will be removed from your tooth. Survival percentages are group results from pooled international studies with their own selection criteria and follow-up periods, and are not predictions for your own restorations. Statements of regulatory guidance are drawn from AHPRA's published advertising material and are current at the time of writing.

Smile Solutions trades under ABN 28 193 514 103.