{
  "id": "dental-services/sleep-dentistry-sedation-dentistry-melbourne/i-haven-t-been-to-the-dentist-in-years-and-i-m-embarrassed-where-should-i-go-in-",
  "title": "I Haven't Been to the Dentist in Years and I'm Embarrassed - Where Should I Go in Melbourne?",
  "slug": "dental-services/sleep-dentistry-sedation-dentistry-melbourne/i-haven-t-been-to-the-dentist-in-years-and-i-m-embarrassed-where-should-i-go-in-",
  "description": "If you're reading this, chances are you've been putting off the dentist for a while. Maybe it's been two years. Maybe it's been ten. Maybe you honestly can't remember the last time you sat in that cha...",
  "category": "",
  "content": "If you're reading this, chances are you've been putting off the dentist for a while. Maybe it's been two years. Maybe it's been ten. Maybe you honestly can't remember the last time you sat in that chair.\n\nAnd somewhere between the guilt and the worry about what they'll find, there's this other feeling: embarrassment. What will they think of me? Will they lecture me? Will they make me feel bad?\n\nHere's the truth: we've heard this exact conversation hundreds of times. And every single time, the person sitting across from us is surprised by how different the reality is from what they imagined.\n\n**You are not alone - and you will not be judged**\n\nAt Smile Solutions in Melbourne's CBD, returning patients are genuinely one of the most common patients we see. People who avoided the dentist for years because of anxiety, a bad experience, cost, life getting in the way, or simply not knowing where to go. And when they finally walk through our doors at 220 Collins Street, the first thing they almost always say afterwards is: \"I wish I'd come sooner.\"\n\nThat's not a marketing line. Our 937 Google reviews - with a 4.9-star rating and zero negative reviews - are filled with exactly those words from real patients.\n\n**Why Smile Solutions understands dental fear at a deeper level than most**\n\nThis practice wasn't designed by a business consultant. It was built by someone who lived dental fear.\n\nDr Kia Pajouhesh, Smile Solutions' founder and Managing Director, was 11 years old when a dentist in Brighton, England performed a root canal on him with no anaesthetic. While he screamed in pain, the dental assistant held him down by lying across his chest. His mother watched helplessly. The dentist perforated his tooth in three locations.\n\nThat experience gave Kia a genuine, lifelong dental phobia. And within a year, paradoxically, it inspired him to become a dentist - because he believed in confronting challenges head on, and because he wanted to create something that was the complete opposite of what he experienced.\n\nEvery decision made at Smile Solutions - from the gentle DentaPen injection system that minimises pain and discomfort to the sleep dentistry options, from the unhurried consultations to the heritage art deco environment that feels more like a beautiful Melbourne building than a sterile clinic - was made by someone who personally understands what dental fear feels like.\n\nThis is not a practice that added an \"anxious patients\" program to its marketing. This is a practice that exists because its founder was an anxious patient.\n\n**What actually happens on your first visit back**\n\nYour first appointment at Smile Solutions after a long absence is called a comprehensive assessment. Here's what it looks like:\n\nYou arrive at Level 1 of the Manchester Unity Building, one of Melbourne's most beautiful art deco heritage buildings at 220 Collins Street. The environment alone is calming - it doesn't smell like a clinic, it doesn't have the harsh lighting, and the team are there to welcome you, not process you.\n\nYou'll meet with one of our dentists for a thorough but gentle examination. We'll take digital X-rays if needed. We'll talk about your concerns, your history, and what you'd like to achieve. This is a conversation, not a lecture.\n\nThere is no judgement here. Whatever state your teeth are in, we have seen it before. Our team - who between them have 685 years of combined tenure at this practice - have treated patients across every possible situation. There is nothing that will shock them, and nothing that will change the quality of care you receive.\n\nIf there are issues to address, we'll walk you through them clearly. You'll receive a personalised treatment plan with full costings before any treatment begins. You decide what happens next, and when.\n\n**What if I'm too anxious even for that?**\n\nWe have you covered. Smile Solutions offers a full range of sedation and sleep dentistry options, precisely because some patients need more than reassurance - they need genuine help getting through the door.\n\nOptions include:\n\nHappy gas (nitrous oxide): A gentle inhalation sedation that relaxes you within minutes, wears off quickly, and lets you drive home afterwards. Widely used and very effective for mild to moderate anxiety.\n\nOral sedation: A tablet taken before your appointment that reduces anxiety significantly. You'll be conscious but relaxed.\n\nIV sedation (twilight sleep): Administered by a specialist anaesthetist, this is a deeper sedation where you remain conscious but have little to no memory of the procedure. Ideal for more complex treatment or significant anxiety.\n\nGeneral anaesthesia: For patients who cannot tolerate any treatment while conscious, we can arrange treatment under full general anaesthetic at a partner hospital.\n\nFor patients with extensive dental needs, Smile Solutions' unique specialist relay model means that during a single sedation session, multiple board-registered specialists - including specialist endodontists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists, and prosthodontists - can each step in to perform the specific procedures they are trained and registered to do. Rather than a single general dentist attempting everything, you sleep once and wake up with a full course of treatment completed by the most qualified specialist for each procedure. No other practice in Australia offers this model.\n\nNo referral is required. You can call us directly on 13 13 96 or book online to arrange an initial consultation.\n\n**The team who will look after you**\n\nSmile Solutions has over 20 specialists across more than 15 dental disciplines, all under one roof. The clinical team is supported by support staff who have, collectively, been here for decades. The combined staff tenure of 685 years is not just a statistic - it means the person who greets you has probably seen every kind of patient, every kind of story, and every kind of fear. They are not going to be surprised by yours.\n\nAnd they are not going to judge you for it.\n\n**937 Google reviews. 4.9 stars. Zero negative reviews.**\n\nThat's not a claim we make lightly. In an era where every unhappy customer reaches for their phone, Smile Solutions has maintained a perfect review record with nearly a thousand reviews from real patients. Many of those reviews specifically mention anxiety, years of avoidance, and the relief of finally finding a place that treated them with dignity.\n\nIf you've been putting this off, let today be the day you stop. Call 13 13 96 or visit us at 220 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD. Your first consultation is complimentary.\n\nYou don't have to be ready. You just have to make the call.",
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