Dentist on Collins
Dr. Richard D Skinner - Dental Surgeon

Dr Skinner has been practicing for over 30 years and young children he treated in his early years now bring their young children in for dental care.

The major difference is that the children today can expect to reach adult life with an intact dentition that has not been ravaged by decay and gum disease.

Education and an early introduction to dental care ensure that visits to the dental surgery are a happy experience for the younger generation.

Please note we accept Medicare Teen Dental at our surgery.

Having healthy teeth for life is achievable for everyone, by having a balance between good diet, good home oral hygiene and regular professional care.

More specifically this involves two comprehensive oral examinations a year, which consist of carefully looking around your mouth, x-rays, and specialised tests as appropriate. Usually your teeth will require scaling and cleaning twice a year.

Advice is tailored to an individual’s specific needs. Nowadays we have available saliva testing kits to ascertain a patient’s susceptibility to dental decay, and new materials such as recaldent (chewing gum) and tooth mouse, both of which re-mineralise and desensitise teeth.

Preventative fissure sealants are tooth coloured resin sealants applied to the tops of healthy teeth to prevent decay.

Decay can form in pits and deep grooves in the teeth that are too small to clean with a tooth brush. Usually no drilling or injections are required for this simple procedure which takes place after your teeth have been given a scale and clean by your dentist.

Find out more on Fissure Sealants >>

We are all busy planning for our financial stability when we retire. It is now becoming apparent that it is wise to also plan for our dental retirement. In our late forties and fifties most of the work done in our mouths has been there for twenty to thirty years and is at the end of its useful life. Also the materials and techniques available then have been surpassed in quality and appearance. Many people in their forties, fifties and even sixties have poor fitting and worn out gold crowns often with secondary caries and periodontal disease lurking around the margins of these crowns. These can be considered as time bombs that will cause a dental crisis/disaster when the patient is no longer working and in a position to restore the mouth, as they would desire. It is very cost effective to assess the mouth and plan for a level of dental fitness that will predictably carry the patient through their retirement in good dental health. Dental expenses as well as medical, pharmaceutical, optical, chiropractic and other health related costs are a legitimate tax deduction. People approaching retirement are at their highest income and tax levels in their working life. It is logical to maximise gaining tax benefits while ensuring dental health for the rest of your life.

When the pulp in a tooth is irreparably damaged (i.e., the nerve dies) the tooth can usually be saved with root canal therapy. To that end we are well equipped with an endodontic microscope and years of practical experience backed up by continuing education courses in endodontics.

Find out more on Endodontics and Root Canal Therapy >>>

Tooth whitening has become very popular and can be achieved in a number of ways, ranging from home kits available in supermarkets to professionally provided custom trays with professional strength bleaching material with wide ranging results.

“Zoom 2” in Chair Whitening System, which is only available from a dentist, is probably the best available. Individual results do vary and maintenance usually needs to be repeated on an annual basis to maintain optimal results.

Bleaching toothpastes do help maintain a whiter looking smile but results are minimal.

Minor irregularities, poorly formed teeth (peg laterals) heavily filled front teeth, worn down front teeth, chipped front teeth can all be restored back to proper form function and also most important appearance.

This is often referred to as cosmetic dentistry but all dentistry is both cosmetic and functional in nature.

Find out more on Porcelain Veneers>>

Porcelain crowns are used when too much tooth structure has been lost and the tooth itself needs reinforcement (protection) to restore form, function and appearance.

A bridge is several crowns joined together to replace a missing tooth where the teeth adjacent to the space would benefit by the protection of crowns. Again the operating microscope enables a very high quality of crown preparation to be possible.

Dr. Skinner brings to his work a quality of not only a dentist but that of a craftsman due to his interest and training in machining of metal parts.

Find out more on Crowns and Bridges>>

Where a tooth has been lost (usually through sporting injuries these days) and the adjacent teeth are intact the method of choice to replace the tooth is an osseo-integrated implant. This procedure is now routine and is considered a long term predictable treatment option.

Oral rehabilitation describes the comprehensive restoration of the whole mouth and usually entails endodontics, crowns, bridges, implants or a combination of all four.

Such work is undertaken after careful planning and analysis of the masticatory system. Work of this nature and complexity often requires periodontal treatment beforehand.

No one person can be an expert in all fields and Dr. Skinner uses a number of specialists in all fields when the need arises.

Historically silver mercury amalgam fillings have served the restorative needs of the dental profession for over 150 years. Much has been said about the toxic effects of mercury, however it is not available in a biological form when combined with silver in a dental restoration. A valid criticism is the black appearance of this material.

Today tooth coloured composite resin filling materials are a suitable alternative for small fillings. The technique for placing composite resin fillings is exacting and the method must be followed meticulously to ensure a restoration that looks good, lasts and does not leave a sensitive tooth. For larger fillings where the width of the filling is over a third the width of the tooth and/or cusps have been lost the restoration of choice is a porcelain onlay or inlay. Each individual’s needs vary and are best discussed at a consultation appointment.

We endeavour to keep a time available each day for dental emergencies. After hours emergency treatment is available but in keeping with the requirements of the Dental Practice Board of Victoria we require a dentist’s assistant when working.

This makes after hours treatment costly so we would advise you to call us in the morning when you have the toothache rather than waiting until you are kept awake at midnight with a dental abscess. Invariably we find that people have been putting up with pain for several days before calling us. Traumatic sports injuries are often best handled at the nearest hospital casualty department but advice is only a phone call away.

Periodontal treatment, treatment for your gums, may be to treat:
Gingivitis – a bacterial infection that is confined to the gums. It is characterised by redness, inflammation, and bleeding of the gums. It results in reversible damage to the gums.
Periodontitis – an inflammatory disease of the gums and supporting structures caused by bacterial infection that results in some permanent destruction of the bone and periodontal ligament. CONTINUED >>