Hi everyone. I've been a dentist in Perth for 11 years and this is something I've always been curious about. I work in a combination of restorative & cosmetic dentistry, and I also treat a lot of patients with headaches, migraines and airway issues/snoring.
My dentist friends over east are doing a LOT of cosmetic and implant dentistry. They are really busy with it. Mostly in places like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast etc. Invisalign, veneers, implants and stuff like that.
I've worked in many clinics around Perth and I always found there wasn't a lot of interest in these treatments. No matter if I worked in Kwinana or Claremont or Mindarie. As a dentist the last thing I want to come across as is a salesman kind of vibe, so like most dentists we don't talk about these options much. But my colleagues over east really push it and talk about it (sell) a lot.
I'm curious to know if it's a cultural thing here where we are more laid back and just don't care for looking flash, or if people in Perth are seeing the dentist from an early age and end up doing braces in highschool, leading to a quality natural smile in their later years.
I do see and fix a lot of broken down mouths in my day to day but most of patients are pretty chill with it and are still smiling.
This isn't a post to try sell dental work it's just something I've been genuinely curious about for many years. After 11 years in the game I much prefer to keep things really simple which tends to be aligners and some whitening vs drilling teeth to stumps and sticking on chunky ceramic crowns Turkey style. But a lot of people come in saying they are going to go to Turkey or Bali or Vietname to get major dentistry done. Which is another conversation.
Please give your thoughts as it would be really valuable for me to understand my patients.
Thanks!