After a Long Break
Haven’t Been to a Dentist in Years?
A full catch-up assessment at Dental Embassy in Braddon: what is actually there, what your options are, and what it would cost. No lectures.
A long gap since your last dental visit is one of the most ordinary reasons people come to see us, and it is rarely the disaster people have spent years imagining. Dental Embassy in Braddon offers a full catch-up assessment (examination, x-rays, photographs, gum and oral health checks) followed by a written plan with costs, staged in priority order so you can decide the pace. Sedation is available if anxiety is what made the gap long. Call 1300 000 230 to book.
No lectures
What is there, and what your options are
One longer visit
A full catch-up assessment, not a rushed check
Sedation available
Gas, oral or IV if anxiety is the obstacle
Written plan and costs
Staged in priority order, you set the pace
The gap is more common than you think
People assume they are unusual for having left it eight years, or twelve, or longer. They are not. A long gap is one of the most frequent reasons someone books a first appointment with us, and the reasons behind it are almost always ordinary ones.
Moving cities is the most common. Someone leaves the dentist they had grown up with, means to find a new one, and then a year passes, then three. Cost is another. So is a busy stretch: a new job, a small child, a period where everything else came first. And for a good number of people it is a bad experience somewhere in the past that made the next appointment easy to defer, and the one after that easier still.
None of those are character failings, and none of them are interesting to us. What matters is what is there now.
What we mean by no lectures
It is easy to put that on a website. What it actually means in the appointment is this: we tell you what we found, we explain what each option involves, we give you the costs in writing, and you decide. There is no commentary on how long it has been, because it does not change what your teeth need and it uses up an appointment you are paying for.
If you would like to explain why it has been a while, that is genuinely useful clinical information. A previous bad experience changes how we approach treatment. But you are not required to account for yourself, and we are not going to ask you to.
Our article on what it is really like after a long gap goes into this properly, including what to say when you book.
What the first appointment involves
The visit most people in this situation book is the Enhance appointment, our full catch-up health check. It is a longer appointment than a routine check-up, because working out what has happened over several years takes longer than confirming that nothing has changed in six months.
It covers a full examination, x-rays, intra-oral photographs, a gum health assessment, and an oral cancer screening. At the end you get a written treatment plan with costs, sequenced in priority order. Nothing is treated on the day unless something is painful and you want it dealt with.
Our step-by-step walkthrough of the first visit after years away sets out exactly what happens and in what order, which most people find takes the edge off.
What tends to have changed
Teeth do not deteriorate at a constant rate, and a long gap does not automatically mean extensive work. What it does mean is that anything that started early on has had time to progress without being caught.
Gum health is usually the bigger story rather than dramatic decay: it develops quietly, without pain, and is the more common finding after a long absence. Old fillings reaching the end of their life is another. Our article on how much can change in ten years without a check-up is honest about this without resorting to scare tactics.
When there is a lot to do
Sometimes the plan is long. The useful thing to understand is that a long plan is not a demand for everything at once. It is a sequence, and the order matters more than the speed.
Anything causing pain or active infection comes first. Then the work that stops things getting worse. Then anything elective or cosmetic, which can wait indefinitely without penalty. Most people work through a plan over months, at a pace set by budget and by what fits around their life.
Our article on where to start when there is a lot to do explains how treatment gets prioritised, and what affects the cost of a dental catch-up covers the money side and how staging works in practice.
If anxiety is the reason
For a lot of people the gap is not about time or money. It is that the thought of the appointment is genuinely difficult, and each year of avoidance makes the next appointment feel higher-stakes.
Dental Embassy is a sedation-focused practice. Nitrous oxide, oral sedation and IV sedation are all available in-house, with IV sedation provided at the practice by our sedationist, Dr Anna Huang. Sedation also makes it practical to combine treatment into fewer, longer appointments, which for someone facing a long plan can be the difference between finishing it and stalling at visit four, covered in our article on sedation for a long or complex appointment.
Not everyone needs sedation, and plenty of people who expected to find they did not. But it is available, and it is worth raising when you book rather than discovering mid-appointment that you are struggling. Our sedation dentistry page sets out the options, and our practical suggestions for managing dental anxiety may help whether or not sedation is part of your plan.
New to Canberra?
This is the single most common version of the long gap in our part of the city, and it is a geography problem rather than an avoidance one. Braddon runs at around 60 per cent renters with a median age of 30 on the 2021 Census, and Civic at around 62 per cent. Kingston is around 51 per cent. A catchment that transient loses people from dental care by relocation, not by fear. They simply never got around to finding someone new.
If that is you, there is nothing to explain and no records you need to produce. Our article on moving to Canberra and never getting around to finding a dentist covers the practical side, including what to do about records from interstate.
Getting started
We are on Northbourne Avenue in Braddon, with light rail on the doorstep and a short walk from Civic. We open from 7:30am on weekdays and 9:00am to 3:00pm on Saturdays, which makes a longer first appointment easier to fit in without taking a day off.
When you book, it is worth saying that it has been a while. It is not a confession. It just means we allocate the right appointment length, and it changes how the visit is planned.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Long gaps are one of the most common reasons people come to see us, and there is almost always a way forward. What matters is what we find and how we sequence it, not how long it has been. Some people who expect the worst turn out to need very little; others need a plan staged over months. Either way, the first appointment is an assessment and a conversation. Nothing is treated on the day unless you are in pain and want it dealt with.
No. We think it is a waste of your appointment and it does not change anything about your teeth. People stop going to the dentist for ordinary reasons: moving cities, cost, a bad experience, a busy stretch that turned into years. Our job is to tell you what is there, what your options are, and what it would cost, so you can decide what to do. That is the whole conversation.
A full examination, x-rays, photographs, an oral cancer and gum health check, and a discussion of what we found. You will leave with a written treatment plan and costs, and no obligation to book anything further. The appointment most people in this situation book is the Enhance visit (our full catch-up health check), which is a longer appointment specifically for people who have been away a while.
Sometimes, and often that is a good idea: fewer visits, less repeated anticipation, less time away from work. There are practical limits, including how much local anaesthetic can safely be given in one sitting and the fact that some treatments have their own sequencing. Sedation makes longer combined appointments realistic for many people. We will map out how few visits your particular plan can reasonably be done in.
That is a common reason for a long gap, and it is worth saying at the start rather than pushing through. Dental Embassy is a sedation-focused practice with nitrous oxide, oral sedation and IV sedation available in-house. IV sedation is provided at the practice by our sedationist, Dr Anna Huang. Some people also just need the first appointment to be talking only, with nothing done. That is a perfectly reasonable way to begin.
Very few people do everything at once. A sensible plan is staged in order of priority: anything causing pain or active infection first, then what protects your teeth from getting worse, then anything elective. We give you the plan and the costs in writing so you can decide the pace. Health fund members can claim on the spot with HICAPS, and interest-free payment plans through Humm, ZIP, Afterpay and TLC are available.
No, and you cannot really prepare your way out of it. Cleaning up before an appointment is a very common instinct and it changes nothing about what we find. Come as you are.
Almost certainly. A visual examination cannot see between teeth or below the gum, which is exactly where problems develop quietly over a long gap. X-rays let us see decay between contacting teeth, the level of bone around them, and anything at the roots. If you can get records from a previous dentist, bring them, but nobody expects you to have a file, particularly if you have moved cities.
The examination itself does not. If your gums are inflamed they may bleed when checked, which can be uncomfortable but is brief. For any treatment that follows, the area is fully numbed with local anaesthetic, and sedation is available if you would rather not be aware of it. If discomfort is your main worry, say so when you book so we can plan the appointment around it.
It depends entirely on what we find. Some people need a clean and one filling. Others need a plan spread over several months, particularly where gum treatment is involved, because gums need time to respond between stages. You will get a realistic sequence and timeline in writing at the end of the first appointment rather than an open-ended commitment.
From the Blog
Related Reading
How Much Can Change in Ten Years Without a Check-Up
What does and does not change during a long gap without dental care: gum health, decay between teeth, old fillings and wear. No scare tactics.
Read Article →Moved to Canberra and Never Got Around to Finding a Dentist?
The most common reason for a dental gap in Canberra's inner north is relocation, not avoidance. What to do about interstate records.
Read Article →What Affects the Cost of a Dental Catch-Up
What drives the cost of returning to dental care after a long gap: what the first appointment covers and how estimates are built.
Read Article →Explore More
Related Services
The Full Catch-Up Health Check
The longer first appointment built for people who have been away a while: examination, x-rays, photographs and a written plan.
Learn More →Sedation Dentistry
Nitrous oxide, oral and IV sedation in-house, for when anxiety is the reason the gap got long.
Learn More →General Dentistry
Check-ups, cleans, fillings and gum care, the ongoing care that follows once you are back on track.
Learn More →Ready to Book Your Visit?
Book a calm first visit. No pressure, no judgement, just a conversation about your options.