Packages & Offers

Every package below is listed with its price and what it actually contains. The terms and conditions are set out in full at the bottom of the page rather than hidden behind an asterisk, because the exclusions are the part that determines what you pay.

Read the section ‘How to read a dental package’ before you book anything — here or anywhere else.

New Patient Welcome Pack — $260

Dr Peter Henderson (DEN0001406311), Registered Dentist, General Registration.

• Comprehensive oral examination — see General Dentistry
• Soft tissue and gum check
• Oral cancer screening
• All intraoral radiographs
• Intraoral photographs
• Discussion of your dental concerns and desired results
• Personalised treatment plan and written quotation of anticipated cost

This package does not include a scale and clean. It is a diagnostic appointment: it tells you what is going on and what it will cost to address. If you want the clean in the same visit, the package below is the one to book.

New Patient Complete Exam & Clean Package — $495

Dr Maliha Siddiqui (DEN0001785009), Registered Dentist, General Registration.

• Comprehensive dental examination with a general dentist
• Soft tissue and gum check
• Oral cancer screening
• Extended session of scaling and cleaning with a dentist or hygienist
• All intraoral radiographs
• Fluoride treatment
• Plaque and stain removal
• Discussion of your dental concerns and desired results
• Personalised treatment plan and written quotation of anticipated costs

‘Extended session’ is the operative phrase. A standard scale and clean is a short appointment. If you have not had a clean in several years, or you have gum disease, one session of any length will not finish the job — and being told so honestly is a better outcome than being told otherwise. When do you need deeper cleaning? sets out what the longer course of treatment involves.

Check-up, Clean & Zoom! In-Chair Professional Teeth Whitening — $860

Dr Yasmin Coulthard (DEN0001023302), Registered Dentist, General Registration.

Everything in the Complete Exam & Clean package, plus:

• Teeth whitening consultation
• One-hour in-chair whitening session

Check-up, Clean & Take Home Whitening — $800

Everything in the Complete Exam & Clean package, plus a professionally supervised take-home whitening kit with custom trays and gel. The trade-offs between the two formats are compared in The difference between in-chair whitening and take-home whitening.

Complete Teeth Whitening Package — $770

• Teeth whitening consultation
• Impressions for custom take-home trays
• One-hour in-chair whitening session
• Take-home kit including clear custom trays and whitening gel

In-chair and take-home together. In-chair gives the visible change on the day; the take-home component is what makes the result last, and it is the half people skip. How long that lasts in practice is covered in How long do teeth whitening effects last?.

Complimentary Cosmetic Consultation

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

This is a discussion only. It does not include an examination, radiographs, scans or any clinical treatment. Full detail at Complimentary Smile Consultation, and the treatments most often discussed at it are set out under Cosmetic Dentistry.

Invisalign treatment with a specialist orthodontist

Dr Joshua Ch'ng (DEN0001857728), Registered Dentist, Specialist Registration in Orthodontics.

• Complimentary consultation with a treatment coordinator
• Treatment carried out by a registered specialist orthodontist
• Diagnostic records and personalised treatment plan including Invisalign simulation
• OPG and lateral cephalometric radiographs
• Removable and/or fixed retainers — type at the treating orthodontist's recommendation
• Zoom! in-chair whitening on completion, subject to the terms below

‘Specialist orthodontist’ is a protected title under the National Law. It means completion of an approved postgraduate specialist program and specialist registration recorded on the AHPRA register — verifiable at ahpra.gov.au in under a minute, and worth verifying wherever you go. Dentists & Registered Specialists explains why.

How to read a dental package — here or anywhere

Six questions. They apply to every dental offer in Australia.

1. Does it include a clean, or only an examination? These are different appointments at different prices, and the words used for them are not standardised across practices. What does a dental hygienist do? explains who does which.

2. Which radiographs are included? Bitewings check between the teeth for decay. An OPG is a different image showing the whole jaw — wisdom teeth, bone levels, pathology. They are not interchangeable, and the second is usually extra. Here, the OPG surcharge is stated: $130 within a package, against $195 standalone.

3. What happens after the diagnosis? A package is a starting point, not a treatment. Anything the examination finds is quoted separately — see Understanding Your Treatment for how that quote is put together, and the Price Guide for indicative figures. A package that implied otherwise would be misleading by omission — which is prohibited under section 133 of the National Law.

4. Does it stack with a health fund? Here it does not. Package prices do not apply to patients treated under preferred provider schemes; those patients are billed on the fund's negotiated schedule instead. Ask which basis applies to you before treatment, not after. See Bupa Platinum Dental Provider.

5. Is the whitening component conditional? Bundled whitening is frequently tied to paying in full or to a minimum deposit. The condition is stated in the terms below — read it before assuming it is included.

6. Is there an expiry designed to make you decide quickly? A dental decision does not need to be made today. Any offer that pressures you into treatment is doing something the advertising rules exist to prevent, and you are entitled to take a quote away and think about it.

What a package can never do

It cannot tell you what you need. Only an examination does that.

No package here — and no offer anywhere — should encourage treatment that is not clinically indicated. Section 133 of the National Law prohibits advertising that encourages the indiscriminate or unnecessary use of health services or that creates an unreasonable expectation of beneficial treatment. Whitening in particular is elective: it does not treat disease, results vary between people, and it does not change the colour of existing crowns, veneers or fillings — which sometimes means restorations need replacing afterwards to match, at additional cost. That is worth knowing before you start, not after.

Common questions

Why can't I just book the whitening? Why does there have to be an examination first?

Because the profession's own position is that the examination comes first, and because what an examination finds can change whether whitening is safe for you.

The Australian Dental Association's policy on tooth whitening states that "teeth whitening should only be performed if the treatment can be justified, and after a comprehensive dental examination has been conducted by a Dental Practitioner". It adds that "only Dental Practitioners who have been educated, trained, and attained competence in teeth whitening can assess whether it is safe for individual patients to undergo teeth whitening", and that "appropriate examination to diagnose and treat any dental or oral health problems is required to minimise any potential discomfort or health risks associated with exposure to bleaching agents".

The specific risk it names is worth understanding rather than taking on trust. Percolation of hydrogen peroxide into the nerve tissues — which the ADA notes is "often accelerated by exposed dentine and enamel fractures" — can lead to nerve inflammation. Exposed dentine and cracks are exactly the things an examination finds and you cannot see. Untreated decay and gum inflammation matter for the same reason.

This is why the terms below say an examination may be required to confirm suitability, and why the packages that include whitening include an examination as well. It is not an upsell; it is the order of operations.

Is whitening safe, and what are the side effects?

The ADA's position is that whitening products "are safe and effective when used by or under the supervision of a dentist and according to the professional directions for use", and that "the most common side-effects are transient tooth sensitivity and soft tissue irritation during or immediately following treatment". Transient means it settles; common means you should expect the possibility rather than be surprised by it.

Three further points from the same source, which are the reasons supervision matters:

• Concentration drives risk. Weak solutions under 3% hydrogen peroxide have been used in mouthwashes and toothpastes for many years with few problems, but the ADA records that "the potential for adverse effects on the oral tissues is increased when higher concentrations are used". Professional in-chair products sit at the high end of the range.
• Nerve inflammation is the named mechanism, accelerated by exposed dentine and enamel fractures, as above.
• The light is not a free extra. The ADA warns that sources of energy used during whitening, "such as light from a plasma arc lamp or high-power (Class 4) laser may cause nerve damage to the tooth and burns to adjacent soft tissues", and that failure to use appropriate protective eyewear "may also cause irreversible injury". There is an Australian standard for this — AS/NZS 4173:2018, Safe use of lasers and intense light sources in health care — which specifies requirements for dental practices.

Whitening remains elective. If sensitivity is already a problem for you, say so before booking rather than after the first session, and ask what the plan is if it becomes uncomfortable partway through.

The packages include an "oral cancer screening". What is that, and what is being looked for?

It is a visual and physical examination of the soft tissues of the mouth, and it takes very little time. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners notes that it "can be performed through a comprehensive oral cavity examination with readily available equipment, including gloves, a mouth mirror, a tongue depressor and a torch" — the point being that the barrier is attention rather than technology.

What makes it worth doing is the way these lesions present. The RACGP records that "initial lesions of oral cancer are generally painless", so they are not the sort of thing that sends someone to the dentist. Its guidance is that anyone with unexplained or non-healing changes in the mouth for more than two to three weeks — "a persistent ulcer, red patches, lumps, a sore throat, or erythematous or speckled lesions" — should have an oral cancer screen. The signs it lists specifically are an unexplained mouth ulcer or lump, an unexplained neck lump, white or red patches of the lining of the mouth, and unexplained tooth mobility or a non-healing extraction site.

On who is most at risk, the RACGP names age over 45 (especially in men), tobacco use, alcohol consumption, areca (betel) nut chewing, and limited access to dental care, and recommends risk-associated screening "on a case-by-case basis for patients aged 45 years or over and for those who are current or past substance users".

One caution against ruling yourself out. The same source notes a rising number of tongue cancers in non-smoking, non-drinking middle-aged women. If something in your mouth has not healed in three weeks, have it looked at whether or not you fit the profile — and do not wait for your next scheduled check-up.

Should I take the package, or use my health fund?

You cannot do both here, so the honest answer is that it depends on your policy and it is worth doing the arithmetic before you book.

As the terms state, package prices do not apply to patients treated under preferred provider schemes — those patients are billed on the fund's negotiated schedule instead. That is a choice between two pricing bases, not a discount stacked on top of a rebate.

What to work out beforehand:

• Which basis you are on. Ask at the time of booking, not at the time of payment.
• What is left in your annual limit, and whether any waiting periods still apply. Dental limits typically reset with the calendar or financial year depending on the fund.
• The item numbers. Ask for the treatment to be quoted with its Australian Schedule of Dental Services item numbers, then give those numbers to your fund and ask what it pays for each. That is the only way to compare like with like, and it works at any practice.
• What is excluded. All fees quoted here are before any health fund rebate, and anything the examination finds is quoted separately.

If the sums are close, choose on clinical grounds rather than on the difference. And note that a preferred provider arrangement is a commercial agreement between a practice and an insurer; it says nothing about clinical quality either way.

Terms & Conditions

These packages do not apply to patients who fall under preferred provider schemes. Contact the practice for further information.

* Additional $130 for an OPG if required (normally $195). All intraoral bitewing radiographs are included, to check for dental decay and the viability of existing restorations. If radiographs are required to check for dental abscesses or dental bone support, additional fees may apply.

’ No further discounts apply. Offer available to new and existing patients. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

~ An examination may be required prior to whitening treatment to confirm suitability. No further discounts apply. Offer available to new and existing patients. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

^ Retainer type will be at the recommendation of the treating orthodontist. OPG and lateral cephalometric radiographs will be bulk billed where private health insurance is available, or provided at no out-of-pocket cost for those without private health insurance. Zoom! in-chair whitening is included if treatment is paid in full, or on a payment plan with a deposit higher than $1,000.

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.

All fees are prior to any health fund rebates. Final treatment costs depend on your personalised treatment plan following clinical assessment, and on the complexity of your case. Any additional treatment identified during examination is discussed and quoted before it commences.

All procedures carry risks and limitations, and outcomes vary between patients. You are entitled to seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified dentist or registered specialist before proceeding.

Related pages: Price Guide, Payment Plans, Bupa Platinum Dental Provider, Complimentary Smile Consultation, Complimentary Orthodontic Consultation, Our Services, Our Team.

Practical details

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

This page contains general information, not clinical advice. Prices are those published at the time of writing and are subject to change; confirm current pricing when you book. Payment plan terms are set by the credit provider and change; confirm current terms directly before you commit. Treatment is provided only where it is clinically indicated and of benefit to the patient.

Smile Solutions trades under ABN 28 193 514 103.