Your First Visit

The treatment philosophy established by Dr Arnis Lidums continues to guide every first visit at Lidums Dental: careful assessment, thorough diagnosis, considered planning and a commitment to excellence.

By understanding what has brought you to us, what matters most to you and what you hope to achieve, our team can recommend a clear and personalised treatment approach designed to support your long-term dental health and wellbeing.

When patients arrive, they often comment they feel like they already know us. That’s because our friendly Front Office Coordinators love people and love greeting to know our patients. They will explain what to expect on your visit. Many find as a result of this initial phone call that they begin to understand why we are different and want to take the next step in understanding their dental situation more and what treatment options might be available for them. Generally, we can reserve a Specialist Consultation within two weeks.

Lidums Dental is designed to put our patients at ease during all aspects of their treatment. The first visit provides an opportunity to understand issues relating to the dental concerns and how it is impacting on life, health and future dental health. At times, Dr Lidums can provide some dental options that may be available to address your dental condition. Here is an outline of what you might expect on your first visit:

Meet Your Treatment Coordinator

Your Treatment Coordinator is your dedicated point of contact, helping you understand each stage of your journey and ensuring you feel informed, supported and confident throughout your care. While some patients primarily focus on achieving optimal dental health and function, others seek cosmetic improvement. While discussing your concerns your Treatment Coordinator will be able to discover what is important to you. So many of our patients have discovered what they thought was their main concern changes as they begin to speak about the issues they face. It’s like uncovering the layers, and being able to talk about the problem and concerns then to truly understand what has really been bothering you. This can be very gratifying for patients who in the past have been told what they should or shouldn’t have and what ‘should’ be important to them. An important note here is to know that any dental anxiety you are experiencing can be discussed at this point so we can best support you in your visit.

Radiography & Photography

During your first appointment, initial photographs and x-rays are taken to provide a more extensive clinical understanding of your dental health. These are studied at high magnification and resolution to gain a greater understanding of clinical issues that may not be visible to the naked eye. This step is critical in knowing what is happening under the surface of your teeth and gums and therefore diagnose with confidence.

Initial Clinical Consultation

Your consultation focuses on understanding your concerns, expectations and desired outcome. By listening first, our team can recommend treatment options that align with your individual needs. Everyone’s situation is different, and it’s important we know what patient’s are hoping to achieve, what expectations they may have and any specific concerns there might be so we can best diagnose and treatment plan something suitable for their situation. Every clinical assessment at Lidums Dental reflects the treatment philosophy established by Dr Arnis Lidums. Our team takes the time to understand your concerns, expectations and goals before recommending an individualised treatment approach designed to support predictable and long-term results.

Clinical Examination

This is a Comprehensive Clinical Examination of your dental health including teeth, gums, joints etc to confirm what has been seen on x-rays and reported by you.

The initial assessment is performed with high performance Optical Loupes (glasses) and assesses function, bite, gum health, bone health, decay, tooth wear, aesthetics and many other critical areas that impact on clinical diagnosis and treatment planning.

Discussion and Treatment Options – Taking the Complex Making it Simple

Using the information gathered throughout your consultation and examination, we develop a personalised treatment plan tailored to your oral health, goals and priorities. We’ll explain your options clearly so you can make informed decisions with confidence.

Result Portfolios

We have a photo library which has over 30 years of comprehensively documented treatment results to show patients who might be considering treatment with a Specialist. With hundreds of ‘before and after’ photographs of previous patients with differing treatment types and outcomes, we are able to show examples of the kind of results we can achieve. Reviewing previous clinical cases helps illustrate how personalised treatment planning can achieve healthy, functional and aesthetic outcomes across a range of situations.

Mouth Preparation

Once you decide to proceed with planning for treatment, further appointments are made to ensure that any underlying dental disease is identified and controlled. Further appointments are generally made for any additional assessments, planning advice and disease control with our Dental Hygienists in order to fully understand problems and plan the solution. It is quite normal to need to collect further information and records to better diagnose and treatment plan to ensure predictable outcomes. It cannot be underestimated the impact of what good Oral Hygiene can have on the results of any dental treatment, as well as uncovering reasons why a dental condition has occurred. Our Hygienists can help patients better understand and treat their dental situation so that any treatment performed lasts longer and looks better for the long-term.

Treatment Costs

For many, cost is an important consideration and can impact someone’s decision on proceeding with treatment. While the cost for Full Mouth Rehabilitation or extensive treatment can be considerable, at Lidums Dental we always ensure there are methods available to help manage the financial side. There are numerous Financial options that support our patients in getting the treatment they really want. Please follow this link to read more.

Our friendly team will guide you through every stage of your treatment journey, ensuring you understand your treatment plan, costs and available options so you can make informed decisions with confidence.

What Our Customers Say

At Lidums Dental, caring for our patients is at the centre of everything we do.

We are grateful to the people who have trusted us with their smiles and taken the time to share their experiences.

Read their stories to see how our team has supported them and made a difference in their dental journeys.

Brands We Trust

Your care is only as good as the tools and materials behind it, so we choose them carefully.

We work with globally recognised, clinically proven systems that are TGA approved and backed by strong research, strict quality checks and reliable warranties.

This helps us deliver results that are precise, reliable and long lasting.