Not sure yet what treatment you need? A first assessment can answer that and show what later visits would ask of your seating and support. Talk to our team about your chair and the access you need before anything is scheduled.
It's hard to plan access for treatment nobody has identified yet. If it has been some time since your last dental visit, or a tooth is bothering you and you don't know why, the sensible first move may be an assessment. That visit tells you what care is needed, and it also shows what later appointments would involve in terms of time, position and equipment.
Even a first visit deserves preparation, though. Tell our team how you get around and how you prefer to sit: moving yourself to the dental chair, staying in your own, or following a set routine with an aid or a trained helper. Using a wheelchair doesn't answer that question for you. Ask how you would reach the treatment room and whether there is space to turn once inside.
After the assessment, the conversation moves on to what treatment is recommended and whether it can be done here or would be better handled in a setting with other facilities. Nothing on this page promises a particular door width, a lifting device, help moving between seats or care while you remain in your own chair.
Some details matter for every appointment, whatever the dental plan turns out to be. Ask for answers that apply to you rather than a general accessibility statement.
Let us know what kind of chair you use and share measurements if space might be tight. Ask about the entrance, raised thresholds, turning room and the treatment area. If you expect to be at the clinic a while, check washroom access and how arrival is handled.
Describe your usual method and anything that limits how far you can lean back or turn. Ask whether an examination, and later treatment, can be managed with the space and equipment available. Lifting by staff, or a transfer done by a companion, shouldn't be assumed.
Say how you'd like findings and options explained and whether someone should come with you. A wheelchair has nothing to do with how you take in information or choose. The team should talk with you, and extra help should follow your wishes.
Confirm the arrangements before you book a ride from Georgetown, Acton or anywhere else in town. If your chair, health, transfer needs or support change between visits, call so the plan can be looked at again.
How you move and sit affects both reaching the treatment space and the positions dental work requires. An early conversation lets the team think about each appointment as it will actually happen. When an assessment shows that later treatment needs more preparation or another facility, you hear about it before it is booked.
Breaking care into stages also keeps you in charge. At every step you can ask who will help, what is agreed and what happens if something doesn't suit you. Loose ends get tied up between visits, not partway through one.
Patient information: NIDCR — mobility considerations in dental care
You know your routines and equipment. Say which help is useful and which isn't. A move between seats needs a plan that has been agreed; someone willing on the day cannot by themselves make a method or piece of equipment suitable.
An assessment, a routine examination and a longer procedure can demand quite different things of your seating and the room. Ask what each booking is for. When treatment follows, the next step should be clear before more journeys are planned.
A support worker or a clinician already involved in your care may help explain a specific need. Agree on what should be shared and how. That spares anyone who comes with you from trying to guess what will turn out to matter.
Your first call should cover the dental concern and the access side together. Phone the practice for detailed or time-sensitive needs instead of relying only on a form.
Maybe you're overdue for a checkup, or something hurts or has chipped. If symptoms are urgent, lead with them. The team can then suggest whether an assessment, a cleaning or another type of appointment fits best, and what it may involve.
Share your chair's details, any transfer routine you follow, and whether staying seated is a must. Hear what is possible and what still needs confirming. Where a particular aid or kind of assistance matters, ask plainly whether it is available.
Choose who you want present and how the team should explain findings or know you'd like a pause. Health details relevant to safe positioning can be passed on by an appropriate route. If another professional should be consulted, settle how before treatment begins.
When you arrive, check the approach still suits you and mention any changes. If something can't be done as agreed, discuss alternatives. No stage of care should involve an unsafe, improvised transfer.
What you're advised depends on the care given. Ask how temporary effects could affect meals, speech, the drive home, transfers or the routine you rely on.
If freezing, medicine or another disruption to your usual day is involved, ask for clear instructions before you go. Confirm transport and support needs. Arrangements that were fine after an assessment may not suit later treatment.
Discuss brushing and cleaning between teeth around your reach, grip and seating position. Whether you need a hand with oral care isn't decided by the wheelchair. Point to the particular movement or tool that's hard and ask about that.
Share what worked and what you'd change. If your chair or support needs change, reconfirm the key details. Each new stage of treatment deserves its own check, even when earlier visits went smoothly.
Call the team with information about your chair and what brings you in. Please don't take the illustrative images on this site as a guide to facilities or transfer help.
Phone our Bronte Street practice to talk about what brings you in and the access, seating and support you need. The team will look at the arrangements and explain what needs confirming before an assessment.
Facilities and help should be confirmed with the team directly. Images used on this site are illustrative and don't depict the clinic, its equipment or any confirmed transfer support.
