Dr Elvis Trinh.

Elvis came to dentistry the long way around. He first qualified as a pharmacist at the University of Sydney, then added a Graduate Certificate in Pharmacy Practice specialising in Mental Health and Healthy Ageing. He worked — and still works — as a hospital pharmacist. It’s the side of his training that gives him a different lens in the dental chair: medication-aware, whole-patient, alert to the way a prescription list can shape oral health long before the patient ever sits down.

He then returned to USyd for a third degree: a Doctor of Dental Medicine. Along the way he was recognised with The Waterman Scholarship, the Eunice Davy Grant, a USYD Merit Scholarship, the Schweitzer Scholarship, a Paediatric Award from Queensland Dental Group, and a Finalist nomination for Australian Dental Graduate of the Year. The scholarships tell you he’s academically driven; the paediatric award tells you the kids in his chair trust him quickly — still the hardest chairside test there is.

After graduating, Elvis spent six years practising across Fairfield, Green Valley, Bella Vista and Riverstone, learning how different Western Sydney communities approach dental care. In 2023 he came home and opened Austral Dental Care on Fifteenth Avenue — a few streets from where he grew up. The same year, the University of Sydney brought him back to the Faculty of Dentistry. He now lectures and clinically tutors in tooth conservation — the minimally-invasive, preservation-first side of restorative dentistry. It’s the approach you’ll feel when you’re in his chair: save the tooth where you can, explain everything, take your time.

He also still examines overseas-trained practitioners for the dental and pharmacy councils, and has never actually given up pharmacy — he continues to take shifts as a hospital pharmacist alongside running Austral Dental Care. It’s an unusual parallel practice, and a rare one in Australian dentistry.

Outside the clinic, Elvis is a young dad. If you catch him out in the suburbs, he’s usually with his family trying to enjoy a warm café meal before his enthusiastic children make it go cold.