I have now paid 3 visits to Dr Lu and can give a pretty clear picture of what to expect.

Let me first say I am a 'dental phobic!' one of those people who avoids going to the dentist at all costs! I made an appointment to see Dr Lien Lu after moving into the area when a tooth chipped and I realised it would need to be capped. She was recommended by my new neighbours and is just a few minutes walk away plus she was one of the recommended dentists through my Medibank Private, so it would end up costing a whole lot less. Literally 15 minutes before my appointment I jumped online, hoping to get a little ‘dutch courage' and had the misfortune of reading the comments from 'Puffy' and was terrified! So, I went to the appointment almost shaking - lol!

Anyway, when she asked me how I was, I pretty much told her I was scared! (I'm a 54 four year old 'scaredy cat'). She was very sweet and told me she would 'numb' me and I wouldn't feel a thing. Literally, it all happened so fast it was almost a blur - lol! It was actually quite good cause I was out of there before I knew it and had no time to even contemplate anything (and each visit with her has been equally quick). She numbed my mouth with something on a que tip first, then very gently administered the nova cane. She was pretty good at it - I must say. She's literally taken away my fear of the nova cane needle now which is no small feat! Back to the tooth capping. She drilled my old filling out and fitted me with a temporary cap after 'measuring' things. There was no pain, but it was a little uncomfortable with all the manipulations taking place in my mouth - getting me to open wide enough (I have a small mouth I think) - but overall - nothing I would have worried about had I known in advance. I think she gave me a pretty good dose of the nova cane cause it was numb for about 2 1/2 hours afterwards and to tell you the truth, that was the worst part of the whole thing.

For visit number 2 - I had my teeth cleaned and the permanent cap put on. Having the new cap put on was easy peasy. The teeth cleaning wasn't fun though. It hurt a little - but I hadn't had them done in about 6 years and she was doing the most thorough job I had ever had done. She also showed me how to floss my teeth properly. This is hard to believe, but thinking back, no dentist has ever done this for me! My teeth were looking better than I had ever remembered seeing them. I had learned from my neighbour by this time that she has been happily going to Dr Lu for 22 years! This is an experienced dentist! I also observed the way she spoke to her staff and treated them, and I could tell they liked her and it was a nice environment for them which was good.

My third and final visit was today. Dr Lu spotted two other things wrong in my mouth. One was a 'hairline' crack she showed me in another tooth which will need to be capped, but I will wait to do this til the dental insurance kicks in next year. The second thing she spotted was a hole in a back wisdom tooth. She gave me two options - to fill it - or to pull it. Well, although I had gained a fair bit of confidence with Dr Lu at this point - I don't think anyone on the planet could make me feel happy about having a wisdom tooth pulled, so I asked her to fill it - which she did today. What a 'naughty' girl I was! I told her when I went in today that I was going to write a review on her and that I'd make it a nice one if she didn't hurt me today - lol! I was kind of dreading this cause the tooth was so far back, I didn't know how she'd get to it. So, she numbed it first - and again - no problem at all with the way she did the needle (she's good at that!). I was a bit surprised when she started cleaning my teeth again though! She said my gums were bleeding a fair bit last time and she wanted to get under the gums today - so I went through another tooth cleaning that was a bit briefer. Still hurt a little - but wow - how thorough she is!! I really felt like I might have a good chance of holding onto my teeth if I have her looking after them. I am impressed!

Back to the wisdom tooth filling. She said she was going to need to do 'a lot of drilling' as it was a big hole she needed to fill, and I blurted out a little swear word - accidentally of course. She and the nurse just laughed and she was very quick - did approx three 10 second drills - and that was it! Her 'a lot' was really just 'a little'. This tooth filling/drilling didn't hurt at all and for some reason the nova cane wore off really fast this time after she was finished. What I really liked about her was her little descriptions about what to expect every step of the way, and it was usually a bit easier than what she said it would be.

I don't understand what went wrong in the 'puffy' family description of her services. My experience has been really great. The capped tooth looks and feels good, I liked her a lot and had the best tooth cleaning I've ever had. Her prices are reasonable too and quite painless with my dental insurance.

I will continue to go back to her for my cleaning (more often now!) and to do my other capped tooth. I think she's clearly one of the better dentists out there and good for the scaredy cats like me!

My siblings and extended family use to go to this dentist clinic however the quality of work done has been very poor.

My aunty had a bit too much of her gum (from gum disease) taken out by this dentist and after getting a second opinion elsewhere (after the procedure was already done) the consensus was the dentist had gone a little too far in what she was doing. She's now left with a gapping hole out the front.

Another bad experience was for my brother who got a root canal done. Somehow the whole cap on the tooth came off after few months and he had to go to another dentist for an emergency fixing.

For those who are just after a cheap clean and don't have many issues with their teeth the dentist is good as I personally haven't had an issues with the clinic with a clean. But if you have issues, I advise you to get a second opinion before taking the recommended procedure from the dentist or just go elsewhere for the procedure.