One stop down the Belgrave and Lilydale lines. Wisdom teeth and complex extractions done in our own chairs, and unhurried care for Nunawading's older residents.
Nunawading and Blackburn are consecutive stations on the same railway line, so getting to Whitehorse Dental at 129A Canterbury Road is one stop on the Belgrave or Lilydale line, or a short drive south off Whitehorse Road. The two things Nunawading residents most often travel here for are at opposite ends of a lifetime: surgical wisdom teeth and complex extractions, done in our own chairs by Dr Kerry Chen rather than referred to an oral surgeon, and unhurried gum, denture and domiciliary care for a suburb with an unusually large cohort in its eighties. There is on-site parking, wheelchair access, and Saturday appointments.
| From Nunawading | Details |
|---|---|
| By train | One stop — Nunawading to Blackburn on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines, then a short walk |
| On foot or by bike | The Box Hill to Ringwood Rail Trail follows the line for the 2 km between the two stations |
| By car | About 4 km, roughly 5 minutes without traffic, south on Springvale Road to Canterbury Road; on-site parking |
| By bus | Route 735, Box Hill station to Nunawading, runs the Canterbury Road corridor |
| Most common reasons | Wisdom teeth and surgical extractions, gum disease treatment, dentures and relines |
| Saturdays | 9:00am to 1:00pm |
The usual path for an impacted lower wisdom tooth is that a general dentist takes an OPG, looks at it, and writes a referral. You then wait for an oral surgeon appointment, get assessed again, and go on a list. Dr Kerry Chen trained at the University of Melbourne and does all the complex extractions in this practice, including surgical wisdom teeth. The OPG we take is the one used to plan the removal, and the person who assessed the tooth is the person who takes it out.
Being specific about what that does and does not include matters more than the convenience. Happy gas is available during the procedure, and oral premedication is an option if you would rather arrive already settled. We do not offer general anaesthetic or hospital sedation. If an assessment shows a tooth genuinely belongs in a theatre, we say so.
The item numbers are how the cost conversation stays honest. 311 is a simple extraction. 322, 323 and 324 are surgical, where 323 means bone had to be removed and 324 means bone removal plus dividing the tooth into sections to get it out. A fully erupted upper wisdom tooth and a horizontally impacted lower one are not the same job, which is why you get a written estimate with the item numbers on it after the OPG, not a figure over the phone.
Nunawading’s age profile has two peaks. There is a working-age bulge through the thirties and early forties, with 35 to 39 the single largest bracket at 8.5%. Then there is a tail that is heavier than anything around it: 18.0% of residents are 65 or over, and 3.5% are aged 85 or over. That last figure is higher than Blackburn North (2.9%), Surrey Hills (2.7%) and Mont Albert (2.6%). (ABS 2021 Census, Nunawading SAL21985.)
Care at that age is mostly about pacing and about gums. We break denture construction, relines and repairs into several shorter appointments rather than one long sitting, and we treat gum disease first and stabilise it before starting any restorative work, because gums that bleed during a procedure compromise the result of the procedure. We also do domiciliary and elderly care, and accept DVA cards. Relevant pages: dentures, including chrome partials, relines and repairs; gum disease treatment; and elderly dental care.
Nunawading’s housing helps explain the shape of that profile. Only 68.7% of dwellings are separate houses and 27.8% are townhouses, a much higher share of medium density than the detached suburbs to the north. A lot of that stock is downsizing housing, which is why the suburb holds both young families and people well into their eighties on the same streets.
English only is spoken at home by 58.2% of Nunawading residents. After that comes Mandarin at 10.9%, Cantonese at 5.3%, then Hindi at 1.8%, Vietnamese at 1.7% and Punjabi at 1.6%. Nunawading is the only suburb in our catchment where Hindi and Punjabi both make the top five. (ABS 2021 Census, SAL21985.)
We speak English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Teochew and Shanghainese. We do not speak Hindi, Punjabi or Vietnamese, and pretending otherwise would not help anyone. Where a family member is interpreting, we book a longer appointment, write the treatment plan down so it can be read again at home, and do not close out a consent conversation because the appointment time has run out.
Nunawading sits about 18 kilometres east of the Melbourne CBD and straddles two councils, the City of Whitehorse and the City of Manningham. Its commercial spine is Whitehorse Road, home to the MegaMile, a roughly one-kilometre run that is the largest bulk-goods retail strip in Melbourne and a designated Major Activity Centre with more than 250 businesses. Brand Smart sits on it at 288 Whitehorse Road, and the City of Whitehorse civic centre is a little further along at 379–397 Whitehorse Road, so a good deal of the municipality’s daily traffic passes through here. The suburb was called Tunstall until 1945, after the English pottery town, which fits a place built on brick and clay works from the 1870s.
From there the practice is about four kilometres south to Canterbury Road, five minutes or so without traffic, with on-site parking when you arrive. Route 735 also links the two directly by bus. The Springvale Road grade separation, completed in 2010, took the level crossing out of that intersection. By train it is a single stop from Nunawading station to Blackburn, and by bike or on foot the Box Hill to Ringwood Rail Trail runs beside the line for the two kilometres between the two stations.
Whitehorse Dental is at 129A Canterbury Road, Blackburn VIC 3130, open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 9:00am to 6:00pm, Wednesday and Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm, and Saturday 9:00am to 1:00pm. If a wisdom tooth is the reason you are here, the first step is an assessment and an OPG, not a booking for surgery. Call (03) 8838 8820, text 0435 025 318, or book online. Neighbouring pages: Blackburn North, Forest Hill and Box Hill.
Most wisdom teeth we remove are done here, in our own chairs, by Dr Kerry Chen, who does all the complex extractions in this practice. That means the OPG we take is the one used to plan the extraction, and the person who assessed the tooth is the person who removes it, without a referral out and without a hospital admission. Happy gas is available during the procedure and oral premedication is an option if you would rather arrive settled. To be clear about what we do not do: we do not offer general anaesthetic or hospital sedation, so if an assessment shows a tooth genuinely needs a theatre, we will say so rather than attempt it.
Yes, and it is the simplest connection in our catchment. Nunawading and Blackburn are consecutive stations on the same Belgrave and Lilydale lines, so it is one stop, and Blackburn station is a short walk from 129A Canterbury Road. If you would rather walk or ride it, the Box Hill to Ringwood Rail Trail follows the railway line for the two kilometres between Blackburn and Nunawading stations. If you drive, it is about 4 kilometres, roughly five minutes without traffic, south on Springvale Road to Canterbury Road, and there is on-site parking. There is also a direct bus: route 735 runs Box Hill station to Nunawading along Canterbury Road, Eley Road and Blackburn Road.
It depends on how the tooth is sitting, and the item number is the honest way to explain the difference. Item 311 is a simple extraction, where the tooth comes out without surgery. Items 322, 323 and 324 are surgical: 323 means bone had to be removed to get the tooth out, and 324 means bone removal plus dividing the tooth into sections. A fully erupted upper wisdom tooth and a horizontally impacted lower one are different procedures with different item numbers, which is why nobody can quote you accurately over the phone. We take an OPG (item 037), assess it, and give you a written estimate with the item numbers on it before anything is booked. For national context, the 2022 ADA fee survey reported an average of $205 for a simple extraction under item 311, which is a general Australian figure rather than a statement of our fees.
Nunawading has a noticeably older tail than the suburbs around it: 3.5% of residents are aged 85 or over, against 2.9% in Blackburn North, 2.7% in Surrey Hills and 2.6% in Mont Albert (ABS 2021 Census). We see a lot of that cohort. The practical answer is that denture work, gum maintenance and relines are broken into several shorter appointments rather than one long one, there is on-site parking so the walk in is short, and the practice is wheelchair accessible. We also do elderly and domiciliary care, and we accept DVA cards.
Straight answer: English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Teochew and Shanghainese. Nunawading has the widest spread of languages of any suburb we draw from, and it is the only one in our catchment where Hindi and Punjabi both appear in the top five languages spoken at home, alongside Mandarin at 10.9%, Cantonese at 5.3% and Vietnamese at 1.7% (ABS 2021 Census). We cannot cover all of those. What we can do is book a longer appointment when a family member is interpreting, write the treatment plan down so it can be read at home, and never rush a consent conversation because the clock says the appointment is over.
It depends entirely on what you need. For a straightforward check-up and clean, proximity is a perfectly good reason to stay local. The things people travel one stop for are the ones a smaller practice usually refers out: surgical wisdom teeth and complex extractions done in-house by Dr Kerry Chen, gum disease treated and stabilised before any restorative work is started rather than after, and children who have not coped elsewhere. If none of those apply to you, we would rather tell you that than talk you into a trip.