Summary

This report on Australia's National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024 (NOHP) Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) presents the most recent data available for 26 core indicators for the reporting period July 2016 – June 2018, or as close as possible to this period.

The data were collected from a number of sources including national population surveys of oral health and state and territory public dental service data collections. It should be noted that:

  • National population surveys of oral health are conducted infrequently, around every 10 years. This means that there are no new data available for some indicators. In these cases, the most recent data available are re-presented here for completeness.
  • Public dental services are operated by state and territory governments, and the data presented here are submitted by states and territories sourced from their own public dental data systems. Because eligibility for services and the organisation of services varies across the jurisdictions, the data are not considered to be comparable across jurisdictions and data have not been aggregated to the national level.

A summary of the Key Performance Indicators trends is presented in Table 1.

Table 1: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024: trends

Legend:  tick, cross, tilde and 2 dots

NOHP Key Performance Indicators

Comparison to baseline report

1. Caries experience in children


No new data available for children

2. Untreated caries prevalence


No new data available for children

cross
Unfavourable increase for adults

3. Periodontitis prevalence

cross
Unfavourable increase

4. Edentulism prevalence


Favourable decrease

5. Inadequate dentition prevalence


Favourable decrease

6. Mean number of missing teeth


No Change

7. People experiencing toothache

cross
Unfavourable increase

8. Food avoidance due to dental problems

cross
Unfavourable increase

9. People feeling uncomfortable with appearance of mouth and teeth

cross
Unfavourable increase

10.  Oral cancer relative survival rate


Favourable increase

11.  Access to optimally fluoridated drinking water


No new national data available

12.  Adults who smoke daily


No Change

13.  Free sugar consumption


No baseline data available
Proxy data presented in this report

14.  People who have received an oral health check-up in the previous two years


No Change for children

cross
Unfavourable decrease for adults

15.  Daily brushing with fluoride toothpaste


No Change for children


No Change for adults

16.  People who report avoiding or delaying visiting a dental practitioner in the last 12 months


Favourable decrease

17.  Children accessing oral health care through a government funded oral health program


Favourable increase
*interpret with caution

18.  Adults accessing oral health care in the public sector


Favourable increase
*interpret with caution

19.  Potentially preventable dental hospitalisations

cross
Unfavourable increase

20.  Private dental practices and services accredited to National Safety and Quality Health Service standards


No baseline data available


Recent data shows a Favourable increase

21.  Newly registered dental practitioners, by division


No baseline data available

cross
Recent data shows an Unfavourable decrease

22.  Registered clinically active dental practitioners


No Change

23.  Non-oral health vocational education and training sector enrolments successfully completing oral health units of competency


No Change

24.  Students enrolled in dental and oral health courses who have a rural background

cross
Unfavourable decrease

25.  Patient experience visiting a dental professional


No Change

26.  Adult daily alcohol consumption


No Change

References

COAG (Council of Australian Governments) Health Council 2015. Healthy mouths, healthy lives: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024. Adelaide: South Australian Dental Service.

COAG (Council of Australian Governments) Health Council 2019. Healthy mouths, healthy lives: Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024. Performance monitoring report: baseline report 2017. Victoria: Dental Health Services Victoria.