“It’s not just fixing a hole in someone’s tooth… there’s a person attached to those teeth and we aim to provide long-term care.” Meet the team at Curtin Dental, a practice that is all about longevity, says co-owners and dentists NIRAN PATHMAPERUMA and TIFFANY TAM.

Curtin Dental is all about providing long-term, holistic dental care and ensuring consistent “continuation of care” for their patients, says co-owners and dentists, Tiffany Tam and Niran Pathmaperuma.

Established in 1972, Curtin Dental has been able to maintain its longevity through having not just long-standing relationships with patients, but long-standing relationships with staff too, says Niran, who has been at Curtin Dental for 20 years.

“We have staff members who have been here for 27 years,” says Tiffany, who celebrates 12 years at Curtin Dental this year.

“Even the original practitioners and their families still come here for treatment.”

This focus on the long-term is important, says Tiffany, because the mouth is a sensitive area, and many people find visiting the dentist anxiety-inducing.

When patients see the same dentist continuously, they become familiar with them and their practice style, she says, easing any nerves that may normally prevent someone from getting their regular check-ups.

“Each time when the patient comes in, they have the option of seeing the same dentist again, and instead of coming in and seeing a different dentist every time, treatment is done with the long term in mind,” says Tiffany.

Niran says it is also important to see the same dentist consistently to ensure the best treatment is being provided.

“When you have continuity of care, the treatment is thinking in the long-term best interests of the patient.”

The more comfortable people feel, the more likely they are to regularly see their dentist, which is important for their overall health, Tiffany says.

“To put it in a nutshell, oral health is connected to some systemic diseases, and it’s related to your nutrition,” says Niran.

“If you don’t have good oral health, you will have malnutrition and other diseases that would then contribute further to other diseases.”

“There have been links made between your oral health and diabetes, heart disease, and there’s even more recent studies about links to dementia,” Tiffany says.

“And then there’s your social well-being,” says Niran.

“Being able to go out, have a social life, being able to smile, being able to talk, all that stuff is affected.”

Niran says the wide range of treatment options similarly ensures patients can go to the dentists they already know and trust for more than just their general check-ups, with services such as root canal therapy, dentures, veneers, recessive gum correction, and oral surgery, among others services, being available.

“You name it, we got it,” he says.

“We can provide anything, in terms of dental treatment, that the community requires.”

Growing up in Canberra, Tiffany says she loves what she does every day because she loves being able to help people in her hometown.

“It’s nice to get to know the person behind the teeth and just hear all their stories as well,” she says.

“As Tiffany said, it is good to be in a position to be able to help people when they need you, and also to get people’s feedback, saying ‘thank you’ and ‘we really appreciate it’, that’s the thing that keeps us going,” says Niran, who has called Canberra home for more than 20 years.

“It’s not just fixing a hole in someone’s tooth or a gap in their mouth; there’s a person attached to those teeth and we aim to provide long-term care.”

Niran says Curtin Dental operates out of a purpose-built space for dentistry too, meaning it is spacious enough for all the equipment, staff and patients.

“Rather than trying to fit into a shopfront, this space is made specifically to be a dental practice,” he says.

This spaciousness at the facility contributes to the overall feeling of openness at Curtin Dental, he says, and allows them to see many patients at a time without it being cramped and intimidating.

Tiffany says all five of the dentists at Curtin Dental are graduates of an Australian university, so patients can be assured they are getting treatment that follows Australian regulations and standards when they visit.

Curtin Dental, 20 Strangways Street, Curtin. Call 6285 2222 or visit us on Facebook.