As we work to provide you with a seamless and predictable service, below are some information to help provide answers to some commonly asked questions. We hope you find this helpful in keeping you well-informed about our processes before your visit.
We understand how busy life can get and how helpful these messages can be to remind us of important dates. To streamline our processes, we have three(3) moments in which we'll communicate your appointment details.
By Email (30-days prior).
You will receive an email confirming your appointment details when you book an appointment. If your appointment date is more than 30-days in the future, then you will also receive a second email reminder at 30-days from your appointment date. This is the perfect moment to add these details to your calendar or to communicate to us of any changes to your availability.
The email may also be advising you, for the first time, of an appointment that has been auto-generated for your annual recall visit, please refer to the section below on "But I didn't book this appointment".
By SMS (7-days prior).
We ask that you please reply "Yes" to confirm your appointment. This will automatically lock your appointment in our system. If you have any issues replying to the SMS, please call us on 03 477 4829 to confirm your appointment over the phone.
It's very important that you acknowledge this SMS, it will communicate to us that you are aware of your appointment time.
By SMS (24-hours prior).
This is a friendly reminder to let you know that we are expecting you for your appointment.
Appointment times at Dunedin Dental are highly sought after, and we make every effort to accommodate our patients within a reasonable timeframe.
We ask that you give as much notice as possible if your circumstance changes and you are unable to attend your scheduled appointment. We require at least 48-hrs notice for cancellation or rescheduling of any appointment.
We work with a list of patients who are waiting for an appointment time, and to be considerate to them, failure to attend a booked appointment will, at our discretion, incur a non-attendance fee.
Please contact us on 03 477 4829 to make changes to your appointment.
What are your costs
It is impossible to establish accurate treatment costs before a full assessment. These depend on so many variables (if a cavity, then; which tooth is it on? How deep is the cavity? Is the tooth even restorable? If so, what material is more appropriate?). As you can appreciate, to quote any amount without proper assessment would be unfair on the patient since there's a large chance it can change once it is properly assessed by the dentist.
However, below is an indication of our fees for standard services.
Initial Dental Examination - $147
This is a full dental check-up including 2 x-rays* of your back teeth.
*Clinicians may require additional diagnostic x-rays for a complete assessment.
Initial Hygiene Treatment - $179
Our Oral Health Therapist will clean your teeth of any calculus build up, and most importantly they will treat and help you prevent gum disease. On your first hygiene session, the clinician will also advise on the frequency of your treatment requirement going forward.
Depending on the complexity of individual treatment requirement, subsequent hygiene sessions may vary from $149 to $179 and set in intervals of 3-4-6 or 12 monthly.
Additional intra-oral x-rays (each) - $25
Additional intra-oral x-rays may be required to zoom in on any localised area of concern.
Panoramic x-ray (OPG) - $80
A panoramic x-ray provides a complete image of all your teeth, your head, neck, jaw, and how they work together. It is helpful to properly assess third molars (aka wisdom teeth), for an overview of general bone levels, to detect pathology and abnormalities, for various trauma assessments, temporal-mandibular joint assessment, amongst other things.
It's my first visit, what must I do before my appointment?
Please refer to this link and complete your medical history. When you submit this form, it will be attached directly to your file and the clinician will have access to your medical history details prior to your appointment.
Under the Privacy Act you must consent to your previous dentist releasing your dental records to us. We ask that you please contact them directly and ask for your dental records to be emailed to us on reception@dunedindental.co.nz
Do you provide WINZ quote?
Work and Income quotes are available upon request; however, you must advise in advance, ahead of your appointment whether you will require a WINZ quote. We may be able to get a quote pre-approved before your appointment.
In the absence of a pre-approved quote, our policy is payment on the day. We will then provide a quote and include the day's charge to it. If the quote is approved by Work and Income, we will refund the original payment.
What are your payment terms?
Payment is expected on the day of treatment. However, payment arrangements are available for patients when communicated at the time of booking the appointment.
Payment methods
We accept cash and all major credit cards*. Cheques are no longer acceptable.
*We do not apply surcharges for credit card payments.
Q-Card, AfterPay and others
We encourage our patients not to build debt, as such, we do not offer third party finance options. However, we work with our patients to make sure that looking after their oral health doesn't become a financial burden.
Planning is better than debt
We understand that life often puts us in different financial pressures, and we work closely with our patients to minimise it. Our clinicians will work with you to prioritise urgent treatments and space out appointments for other less urgent requirements. When doable, this allows our patients to organise payment plans ahead of treatment which significantly reduces the financial pressure when making full payments at the end treatment.
Debt recovery
All costs incurred in the collection of overdue accounts will be payable by the debtor. We reserve the right to charge overdue fees, interest and collection costs on all accounts not paid by the completion of treatment.
But I didn't make this appointment?
After your first full dental check-up or your first hygiene treatment, clinicians will set your recall frequency in our system. This is determined by your individual oral health needs and the ideal time for you to return for the preventive care visits.
Because our books are extremely busy, to minimise the impact of not being able to see you when you become due, our system will automatically generate a recall appointment around the time you are due.
You will be informed of the appointment details by email and 30-days prior to the appointment. If the date and time doesn't suit or you prefer not to come in, simply let us know when you receive that email.
What is a "reminder" only status?
In contrast to the auto-generated appointments described above, you can opt to be on our reminder only list. This means that instead of having a future appointment secured for you, the system will identify that you are overdue for your annual recall visit and simply send you timely reminders via email and SMS.
It will be your responsibility to call us to book an appointment for your annual visits. In this case, it may be that you will be seen late due to our appointment availability at the time.
What is the non-attendance fee?
We work with a short-notice list for patients who are waiting on an appointment time. Failing to attend a booked appointment means that we are unable to accommodate these patients who may need an urgent appointment availability.
To be considerate to these patients, failure to attend a booked appointment will, at our discretion, incur a $69 charge. And, in the case of repeated failures, we may decide not to offer any future appointment times.
Are there still any COVID-19 specific requirements?
As a healthcare facility, we continue to encourage the use of face mask, however, this is no longer a requirement.
We understand patients may have different views on the use of mask, and as a Dental Practice operating under the New Zealand Dental Council Code of Practices and Guidelines we take all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of all our patients and team.
There is currently no remaining COVID-19 requirements.