A dental visit can provide an opportunity for the provision of preventive dental care to maintain existing oral health, as well as treatment services that may reverse disease or rehabilitate the teeth and gums after damage occurs.
Dental services are funded, and can be accessed, in a number of ways—privately or through public dental clinics or DVA (based on eligibility). For those who purchased services privately, some may have had all or part of the costs of the service subsidised.
In 2018–19:
- 42.9 million dental services were subsidised by private health insurance providers (APRA 2019)—for more information refer to chapter on Private health insurance
- 5.4 million services were subsidised under the Australian Government’s Child Dental Benefits Schedule (Department of Health 2019)—refer to the section included below for more information on the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.
Data on dental services provided in Australia are limited, especially in relation to services provided in the private sector, as no comprehensive national data sources are available. The most complete information about Australians’ use of dental services is available via national population surveys.
Key terms
- Favourable dental visiting pattern: Visiting a dentist once or more a year (usually for a check-up) and having a usual dental provider.
- Unfavourable dental visiting pattern: Visiting less than once every two years (usually for a problem), or visiting once every two years (usually for a problem) and without a regular dental provider.
- Intermediate dental visiting pattern: Visiting classified as neither favourable or unfavourable.
- Smoker status: The extent to which a respondent was smoking at the time of interview. Full description in ABS Glossary.
- Alcohol consumption: Assessed using the 2009 NHMRC guidelines for the consumption of alcohol.
Health service usage
The Australia-wide 2011–12 Australian Health Survey (ABS 2013) and the 2014–15 National Health Survey (ABS 2017), conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), collected a range of information about the health of Australians including their use of health services such as consultations with dentists or other dental professionals. The data presented in this section were sourced from these two surveys.
In 2014–15, almost half (47%) of all Australians had consulted a dentist or dental professional in the last 12 months.
In 2014–15, the proportion of people who had consulted a dentist or dental professional in the last 12 months was:
- higher for females (50%) than males (44%)
- higher for those from Major cities (49%) than for those from Inner regional (42%) and Outer regional and remote (42%) areas
- lower for those from the most disadvantaged areas (37%) than those from the least disadvantaged areas (60%) (according to SEIFA Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage)
- lower for those who exceeded lifetime risk alcohol consumption guidelines (45%) than those who did not exceed guidelines (51%)
- lower for current smokers (36%) than those who have never smoked (48%)
- lower in the Northern Territory (41%) than any other state or territory.
Results from the 2011–12 survey are also included in Dental care interactive 1 for comparison. Explore the data further here: