Dr Stephen Dudgeon is a male General Dentist.
I joined Avenue Dental in 2005 and never dreamed how well things would turn out. I am now fortunate enough to own Avenue Dental with my best friend, Dr Eli Burger, and we have an absolutely fantastic team of talented dentists, hygienists, oral health therapists, receptionists and dental assistants to work with.
After six years of university life, I graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Dental Science with First Class Honours. After graduating, I was lured to the lifestyle of Caloundra and the Sunshine Coast and joined the Avenue Dental family in 2005. I thank Dr Richard Bell for giving me the opportunity to work at Avenue Dental.
My particular interests in dentistry are crown and bridgework, dental implants and cosmetic dentistry, however I like all aspects of dentistry. Generally, the larger the challenge, the more excited I get about dentistry! The two areas of dentistry I am not as passionate about are wisdom teeth removal and orthodontics. Fortunately we have Dr Richard Bell who is fantastic at wisdom tooth extractions and Dr Rachel Glancy who completes outstanding orthodontic treatment.
After completing over 1 year of training at a dental implant training facility in Brisbane, I am excited to be able to offer dental implants right here on the Sunshine Coast. I love to see the difference that dental implants can make to people’s quality of life. Previously, when people had missing teeth the only option was a denture. Now we can replace missing teeth with a dental implant that looks, feels and chews like a natural tooth.
Cosmetic Dentistry is the other area that I love because it makes such a difference to people’s lives. I feel a great sense of achievement when I am able to do fantastic dentistry that positively affects my patients.
I also love being able to educate other dentists and pass on my passion to the next generation of dentists. For this reason, Dr Eli Burger and myself founded the Australian Dental Graduate of the Year Award to recognize and celebrate the best new graduate dentist in Australia each year. We also then take the top 5-10 new graduates in Australia and put them through the Avenue Dental Mini Residency in General Dentistry. This is an intensive program designed to best prepare newly graduated dentists for the challenges of dentistry and to develop them further into the best dentists that they can be.
I am strongly committed to continuing education. I attend numerous courses each year, and also helped establish a study club in 2006; of which I am vice-president. To maintain registration as a dentist, the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) requires dentists to participate in 20 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) every year. I usually complete over 200 hours of CPD a year so that rather than just staying compliant with regulations, instead I am continually improving and raising the standard of care I can offer my patients.
To complete this many hours of continuing education I dedicate a significant portion of my life to ongoing learning, as well as personal and professional development. This involves weekly team training meetings with our whole practice, one on one clinical coaching meetings with each of our dentists, monthly clinical and treatment planning meetings with our dentists, hygienists and oral health therapists, regular reading (I aim to read at least 1 book a month), regular journal reading, quarterly coaching and mentoring of other dentists through the Avenue Dental Mini Residency in General Dentistry, as well as attending other lectures and hands on courses that spark my interest.
