A direct run east on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines from Union station, or a short drive, to a practice that does its own complex extractions and takes a long view of restorative work.
Union station, which replaced both Surrey Hills and Mont Albert stations in May 2023, is on the same Belgrave and Lilydale lines as Blackburn, so the trip to Whitehorse Dental at 129A Canterbury Road is a direct run east on the line Surrey Hills residents already use. Two age groups dominate this suburb and they need opposite things: teenagers, where 15 to 19 year olds make up the second-largest age bracket, and adults in their fifties, whose fillings from decades ago are starting to crack. We do surgical wisdom teeth and complex extractions in-house with Dr Kerry Chen, and rebuild worn teeth with crowns in e.max, zirconia, gold or porcelain-fused-to-metal. There is on-site parking, wheelchair access, and Saturday appointments.
| From Surrey Hills | Details |
|---|---|
| By train | Union station (Beresford Street) or Chatham station (Stanley Terrace) east to Blackburn on the Belgrave and Lilydale lines, then a short walk |
| By tram | Route 109 along Whitehorse Road on the northern edge; route 70 along Riversdale Road, terminating at Wattle Park. Bus 766 runs Box Hill station to Burwood via Surrey Hills |
| By car | About 4.6 km, roughly 6 minutes without traffic, a near-straight run east along Canterbury Road; on-site parking |
| Most common reasons | Teen check-ups and sealants, wisdom teeth assessment, sports mouthguards, crowns |
| Saturdays | 9:00am to 1:00pm |
Surrey Hills is one of the larger suburbs we draw from, 13,655 people at the 2021 Census, and its age curve is unusual. Children aged 0 to 4 make up only 3.9% of residents, but 10 to 14 year olds make up 7.1% and 15 to 19 year olds make up 7.7%, roughly 1,050 people. The 15 to 19 bracket is the second-largest in the suburb, behind only 50 to 54 at 8.3%. (ABS 2021 Census, Surrey Hills SAL22399.)
That shape describes a school-catchment suburb with more teenagers than toddlers, which is why this page is not about first visits and baby teeth. It is about the years when a clean dental record is most likely to break, and about the parents of those teenagers, who are sitting right in the largest bracket of all.
Most families remember to seal the first adult molars, which arrive around age six. The second adult molars come through around age twelve, further back, harder to brush, and much more often missed. Sealing those grooves before decay starts is quick, needs no anaesthetic and no drilling, and it is the single most useful preventive thing available in the early teens. See fissure sealants.
Bitewing x-rays matter for the same reason: decay starting between two back teeth is invisible on examination until it is well established. And with a lot of Surrey Hills teenagers playing club sport around South Surrey Park, which follows Back Creek from Union Road north to Riversdale Road, and Wattle Park across Riversdale Road at the end of the 70 tram, a custom mouthguard scanned to their current bite is worth more than a boil-and-bite tray that has been reshaped twice. Related reading: when fissure sealants work, how a mouthguard should fit, and sports drinks and teeth.
Wisdom teeth appear on an OPG in the late teens, which is exactly the cohort Surrey Hills is full of. Not every one of them needs to come out. A tooth sitting upright with room behind the second molar can often be watched. A tooth angled into its neighbour, or one that half-erupts and keeps getting inflamed, is a different case.
When removal is the right call, Dr Kerry Chen does it here. The item numbers tell you what was actually involved: 311 for a simple extraction, and 322, 323 or 324 for surgical, where 323 means bone had to be removed and 324 means bone removal plus dividing the tooth. You get a written estimate with the item numbers on it after the OPG. See wisdom teeth removal, and signs your wisdom teeth are coming through.
The largest age bracket in Surrey Hills is 50 to 54 at 8.3%, with a further 18.8% of residents aged 65 or over. Median weekly household income is $2,503, the highest of any suburb in our catchment. Clinically the fifties are when teeth that were filled in the 1980s and 1990s start to give way: the filling is still there, but the tooth around it has flexed and cracked for thirty years, and a cusp finally goes.
The way we approach that is the reason people travel for it. Gum disease is treated and stabilised before restorative work starts, not after, because gums that bleed during a crown preparation compromise the impression, the fit and the margin. Restorations are placed under rubber dam for isolation, with air abrasion to improve bond strength and moisture control kept right throughout. Crowns are made in e.max, zirconia, gold or porcelain-fused-to-metal, chosen for where the tooth sits and how you bite, not by default. Dr Melissa Huang’s own stated aim is to fix it properly the first time and not have to redo it for at least a decade.
For national context on cost, the 2022 ADA fee survey reported an average of $1,678 for a full veneered indirect crown under item 615, in a range of $1,250 to $2,100. That is an Australian average, not a statement of our fee; yours is confirmed in a written treatment plan after assessment. Relevant reading: do you really need a crown, the crown procedure step by step, and why teeth break and chip. See also gum disease treatment.
Surrey Hills sits about 11 kilometres east of the CBD, bounded by Whitehorse Road to the north, Elgar Road to the east, Riversdale Road to the south and Highfield Road to the west, and it is split between the City of Boroondara and the City of Whitehorse. Its commercial centre is the 300-metre run of shops on Union Road, alongside the heritage-listed Surrey Gardens, in among streets of Victorian, Federation and Edwardian houses under avenues of pin oaks and plane trees.
The 2023 level crossing removal at Union Road changed how people get out of the suburb. Surrey Hills station closed and Union station opened on 22 May 2023 on Beresford Street, about 750 metres from the old site, with the line lowered into a trench. It runs the same Belgrave and Lilydale services, so Blackburn is a direct trip east. Chatham station on Stanley Terrace remains open on the same lines. Trams 109 along Whitehorse Road and 70 along Riversdale Road serve the two edges of the suburb, and bus 766 runs Box Hill station to Burwood via Surrey Hills. By car it is about 4.6 kilometres, close to a straight run east along Canterbury Road, with on-site parking at the practice.
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. A first visit runs a full hour and starts with a conversation rather than an instrument. Call (03) 8838 8820, text 0435 025 318, or book online. Neighbouring pages: Mont Albert and Box Hill.
Union station replaced both Surrey Hills and Mont Albert stations when it opened on 22 May 2023, after the Union Road and Mont Albert Road level crossings were removed and the line was lowered into a trench. It sits on Beresford Street, roughly 750 metres from each of the two former station sites, and it is on the same Belgrave and Lilydale lines. So the connection to us has not changed in kind: Union to Blackburn is a direct run east on the line you were already using, and Blackburn station is a short walk from 129A Canterbury Road. Chatham station on Stanley Terrace is still open and also runs the Belgrave and Lilydale lines. If you drive instead, it is about 4.6 kilometres, roughly six minutes without traffic, a near-straight run east along Canterbury Road, and we have on-site parking.
Not all of them do. Wisdom teeth usually show up on an OPG in the late teens, well before they cause trouble, and the useful question at that stage is what direction they are pointing and whether there is room. A tooth sitting upright with space behind the second molar can often be left alone and watched. A tooth angled into the tooth in front, or one that keeps part-erupting and getting inflamed, is a different conversation. When removal is the answer, Dr Kerry Chen does the complex extractions here in our own chairs, so a teenager is not referred out and put on an oral surgeon’s list. Happy gas is available. We do not offer general anaesthetic or hospital sedation.
Yes, scanned rather than moulded. We take a digital scan with our Medit intraoral scanner and the guard is made from that. For a teenager this is the useful detail: adult teeth are still settling into their final positions through the mid-teens, so a guard made from last season’s bite stops sitting properly, and a guard that does not sit properly ends up in the bag rather than the mouth. Surrey Hills has a lot of club sport around South Surrey Park and Wattle Park, and the sensible time to get one made is before a season, not after a chipped incisor.
For a check-up and clean, honestly, nothing. Union Road is a 300-metre strip and if a local practice is looking after you well, stay there. The reasons people do make the trip are specific: complex extractions and surgical wisdom teeth done in-house rather than referred out, gum disease treated and settled before any crown or restorative work is started rather than after, and a technique standard on restorative work that is meant to make things last — rubber dam isolation, air abrasion to improve bond strength, and moisture control on every restoration. Dr Melissa Huang’s stated aim is to fix something properly the first time and not have to redo it for at least a decade. If that is not the kind of problem you have, we would rather say so.
Worth taking seriously, because the teens are when a clean record most often breaks. Surrey Hills is unusually teenage-heavy: 7.7% of residents are aged 15 to 19, about 1,050 people, which is the second-largest single age bracket in the suburb (ABS 2021 Census). The practical measures are unglamorous. Fissure sealants on the second adult molars, which come through around age 12 and are the most commonly missed teeth. Regular bitewing x-rays, because early decay between back teeth is invisible to the eye. And a frank conversation about sports drinks and energy drinks, which do more damage in this age group than lollies do. Sealing and monitoring is a great deal cheaper than the filling it prevents.
We do both in-chair and take-home whitening, and in practice Dr Melissa Huang talks nearly everyone into take-home. A custom take-home whitening kit is $199, which includes the custom trays made from a scan of your teeth and the Opalescence gel. The reasoning is not cost. Take-home whitening is applied gradually over a couple of weeks, which gives more control over sensitivity and makes the result easier to top up later without booking another appointment. Whitening only works on natural tooth structure, so any existing crowns, veneers or white fillings in the smile line stay the colour they already are, and that needs to be planned for before you start rather than discovered afterwards.