Our team at Newcastle Specialists Prosthodontics wants every visit to feel welcoming and supportive. We know visiting the dentist can sometimes bring nerves, which is why our team focuses on patient-first care.
Your First Visit
At Newcastle Specialist Prosthodontics, we know that functional oral health plays an important role in both confidence and everyday wellbeing. Your first visit is centred on listening carefully to your concerns and understanding how we can best support your long-term oral health.
Your first visit is all about getting to know you, understanding your concerns and carefully assessing how we can best help you. To begin, you’ll be asked to complete our new patient forms, which include your medical history, personal details, and our confidentiality and privacy information. This helps us ensure your care is both safe and tailored to your individual needs.
You will then meet with our prosthodontist in a private consultation room (rather than a treatment chair) to discuss your dental history, current concerns and goals for treatment. This relaxed, one-on-one discussion allows time to fully understand what matters most to you.
Following this, you’ll be taken into the treatment room for a comprehensive full-mouth examination, supported by our dental assistant. Once the examination is complete, Dr Ma will discuss any initial findings with you and outline possible treatment options. In some cases, further investigations such as OPG x-rays or study models may be recommended to allow for more detailed planning.
If referrals to other specialists or healthcare providers are needed, these will be clearly discussed with you. After all necessary information is gathered, a detailed treatment plan is prepared and sent to you via email or mail. This allows you time to carefully review your options, understand the costs involved and make a considered decision before proceeding with treatment.
Our aim is to ensure your first visit is thorough, supportive and completely focused on helping you move forward with clarity and confidence.
Dental Anxiety
It’s completely normal to feel nervous about visiting a specialist, especially if you’ve had difficult dental experiences in the past. Please know that your comfort, dignity and emotional wellbeing are just as important to us as your clinical care. Your first visit is focused on conversation, understanding and assessment—no treatment will begin without your full understanding and consent.
We take the time to move at your pace, answer your questions, and ensure you feel listened to every step of the way. If you’re feeling anxious, we encourage you to let us know—we’re here to support you and make your experience as calm and positive as possible.
What to Bring
To help your appointment run as smoothly as possible, please bring a completed copy of your new patient forms (or arrive a little early to complete them in practice). It’s also helpful to bring a list of your current medications, any relevant medical information and details of past dental treatment if available. If you have recent x-rays, scans or referral letters from your dentist or medical practitioner, please bring these along as well. And of course, don’t forget your Medicare card, private health insurance details (if applicable) or DVA card (if applicable).
Our Promise to Our Patients
When you come to our practice, you can expect care that is thoughtful, respectful and centred on your long-term wellbeing. We are guided by evidence-based dentistry that restores health and allows naturally aesthetic outcomes to follow, and we take the time to listen, explain and plan care that feels right for you. As part of our commitment to doing things well, we are actively working toward voluntary practice accreditation, reflecting our ongoing focus on patient safety, clinical excellence and continual improvement.
Financial
We accept cash, cheques and debit/credit card payments. At the current time, we do not offer HICAPS services at point of payment. All treatment must be paid in full, and an itemised receipt will be issued to you at completion of treatment so you can claim from your health fund for any eligible treatment.
Please note that we do not offer credit or deferred payment arrangements.
Due to the nature of specialist prosthodontic treatment, care is often provided across multiple appointments. In most cases, payments are therefore divided into smaller amounts over the course of treatment. This helps reduce immediate financial burden and allows for the timely payment of laboratory and other associated service fees.
Once you have made appointments to proceed with your treatment, you will be provided a Payment Summary. This document outlines the following:
- dates and times of your appointments,
- estimated length of each appointment, and
- payment required for each appointment.
In most circumstances, payment receipts show a credit balance on your account until the relevant stage of treatment is complete. These payment receipts will not include treatment numbers until the procedure is completed, which means that claiming from your health fund cannot be done until the procedure is completed.