Ripponlea’s dentist, just up the road

Ripponlea is one of Melbourne’s smallest and most genteel pockets, defined by the National Trust’s Rippon Lea Estate, its grand house and heritage gardens, and a handful of cafes near the station. It’s quiet, leafy and close-knit, and practically next door to us. For a suburb this near, keeping up a regular check-up is effortless, which is rather the whole point of having a local dentist.

Teeth rarely shout before they whisper. Worth a visit: gums that bleed when you brush, a tooth that twinges with hot or cold, a rough edge your tongue keeps finding, an ache that comes and goes, or breath that won’t freshen up. None of these are emergencies, but each is your mouth telling you something small is starting. Caught now, they’re usually simple. Left alone, they tend not to stay that way.