Our Warranty

Our Warranty

We stand behind the work we do. To help you understand how our warranty works, we explain it a little like the warranty on a new car.

Just as a car needs its regular servicing to keep the warranty valid, your dental work needs regular check-ups and care. Patients who attend for their recommended examinations and maintenance are covered by our warranty. If those regular visits are missed, our standard warranty no longer applies, though in most cases we will still look after you on a goodwill basis (see Pro Rata Warranty below).

Your rights under Australian Consumer Law

Nothing in this policy excludes, restricts or limits the rights and guarantees you have under the Australian Consumer Law. These guarantees apply to our goods and services regardless of the terms set out below. The warranty described here is provided in addition to those rights.

Pro Rata Warranty

Where the standard warranty no longer applies, we may still offer a Pro Rata Warranty as a goodwill gesture. Under this arrangement, the patient contributes towards the cost over the first five years:

• Up to 12 months: Full warranty, no fee
• 12 to 24 months: You contribute 20% of the current fee
• 24 to 36 months: You contribute 40%
• 36 to 48 months: You contribute 60%
• 48 to 60 months: You contribute 80%
• Beyond 5 years: The warranty period has ended and the full fee applies

Dentures

Adjustments and relines. Following a new denture or a permanent reline, adjustments are provided at no charge for the first three months.

Damage. New dentures we have made are warranted against manufacturing faults. Damage caused by an accident or by handling that falls outside the cleaning and care instructions we provide is not covered by the standard warranty. Even so, we will always take a look, and where appropriate we are happy to carry out a goodwill repair.

Lost or destroyed appliances. A replacement for an appliance that has been lost or destroyed (for example, damaged by a pet) is charged at the full replacement fee, as this falls outside warranty.

Veneers

Veneers are warranted against fracture where a protective nightguard has been provided and is worn as recommended. Where a nightguard has not been worn, fractures are not covered by the standard warranty.

Crowns

If a crown comes loose within the first six months, we will re-bond it under warranty. After six months, re-bonding is not covered by the standard warranty.

If the remaining tooth structure that supports the crown fractures off with a crown that comes out, no warranty will apply, and in general, a new foundation and supporting work will be required plus a new crown.

Fillings

A broken or lost filling is covered on the Pro Rata Warranty basis set out above. Please note that recurrent decay (new decay forming around or beneath existing work) is a natural process and is not covered by warranty.

If you have any questions about your warranty or what is covered, please ask our team. We are always happy to talk you through it.

Children who require a dental procedure and present for the appointment, but who will not allow us to do the work at the time, will never have any treatment forced upon them.

Regrettably, despite how well behaved a child is, when it comes to doing any procedure when they are unable to cooperate, parents need to be aware that those parts of a child’s brain that are associated with reasoning and logic have simply not developed yet.

As a result, talking to them about the consequences of not doing the procedure is not going to succeed until they reach the age of reasoning.

Often this is not until at least the age of 10 years.

Bribery by parents does not overcome this emotion in a child and trying to force the procedure on a child who is not developmentally ready to fully cooperate will not change the behaviour.

This is both the practices and parent’s inconvenience that the procedure needs to be halted, and all parties need to ignore this.

Forcing the issue will be too risky for the child and dentist and nurse, as inability to hold still and keep the mouth properly open risks injury.

Forcing the issue is invariably going to create life-time dental fears and apprehension.

Parents need to acknowledge that the dentist has many decades of experience in recognising when there is no point in pursuing attempts to appease the child and continue attempts, and our first consideration is always in the child’s long-term wellbeing.

A sensible approach is to either consider having the treatment done under a General Anaesthetic if the procedure is urgent, or if not urgent, simply waiting another year or so and trying again.

Despite our best efforts to calm an emotional or uncooperative child, the inability to reason with a child at this age still results in our need to charge a fee for the procedure commensurate with the time booked for the appointment.