Oral health and dental care in Australia

Time since last visiting a dentist is a key indicator of access to dental care. Some of those visits will be for a regular check-up; while other visits will be for treatment of a dental problem. Visiting at least every 12 months for a check-up is widely recommended by the dental profession to enable preventive services, early diagnosis and prompt treatment. The Australian dental care system is predominantly a fee for service private practice system. Public dental services are available to eligible adults and children.

Children aged 5–17 years

The following data were sourced from the National Dental Telephone Interview Survey 2021 conducted by the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide (Chrisopoulos et al. 2023). The parent or guardian was asked how frequently the nominated child made a dental visit to a public or private practice, the reason for the visit and the type of service received. Preventive services included ‘fluoride treatment’, ‘scale and clean’ and ‘oral hygiene instruction’. Diagnostic and treatment services included ‘check-up’, ‘x-ray’, ‘filling’, ‘extraction’, ‘orthodontics’ and ‘other’. Optimal dental visiting is important for children’s oral health in order to provide preventive care and early intervention to treat disease. Services received reflect the oral health needs of the individual.

Time since last visit

• Around 1 in 5 (19%) children made a dental visit between 1 and 2 years ago, around 1 in 20 (5.1%) children made a dental visit between 2 and 5 years ago and around 1 in 25 (4.2%) children had either not made a dental visit in the last 5 years or had never made a dental visit.
• Females (76%) were more likely to have made a dental visit in the previous 12 months than males (68%).
• Children living in Major cities (74%) and Inner regional areas (72%) were more likely to have made a dental visit in the previous 12 months than those living in Outer regional or remote areas (56%).
• Children with dental insurance (77%) were more likely to have made a dental visit in the previous 12 months than those without dental insurance (64%).

Reason for last dental visit

• Around 1 in 5 (20%) children who made a dental visit in the previous 12 months did so for a dental problem.
• Around 1 in 6 (17%) children with dental insurance and around 1 in 4 (25%) children without dental insurance made a dental visit in the previous 12 months for a dental problem.

Type of practice

• Around 1 in 5 (20%) children aged 5–17 years made their last dental visit to a public dental practice.
• Around 4 in 10 (40%) children who held an Australian Government concession card made their last dental visit to a public dental practice. 
• Around 9 in 10 (89%) children with dental insurance made their last dental visit to a private dental practice compared to around 6 in 10 (61%) children without dental insurance.

Dental visiting trends

• The proportion of children aged 5–17 years who visited for a check-up at their last dental visit has fluctuated over time, ranging from 70% in 1996 to 84% in 2010. 

Type of dental services received

In the previous 12 months:

• around 1 in 3 (32%) children received a fluoride treatment at their dental visit
• the most common diagnostic service received was a check-up, with around 9 in 10 (92%) children receiving this service at their dental visit
• around 1 in 3 (36%) children received an x-ray at their dental visit
• around 1 in 4 (24%) children received orthodontic care at their dental visit
• Around 1 in 6 (17%) children received a filling and around 1 in 14 (7.3%) children received an extraction at their dental visit.

Trends in the type of dental services received

• There has been an overall decrease in the proportion of children receiving fillings from 29% in 1994 to 18% in 2021.

Explore the data further in the Dental care interactives below.

Dentate adults aged 18 years and over

The following data were sourced from the National Dental Telephone Interview Survey 2021 conducted by the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health, The University of Adelaide (Luzzi et al. 2023). Adults aged 18 years and over were asked how frequently they made a dental visit to a public or private practice and the reason for the visit, that is, whether the visit was for a regular check-up or seeking treatment for a dental problem.

Time since last visit

Among those who had visited a dental service within the previous 12 months the proportion was:

• lower for males (55%) than females (61%)
• higher for adults aged 55-74 years (63%) and adults aged 75 years and over (64%) than adults aged 18-34 years (53%)
• lower for Indigenous persons (47%) than non-Indigenous persons (58%)
• lower for those with year 10 or less of schooling (50%) than those with year 11 or more (60%).
• lower for adults eligible for public dental care (53%) than those ineligible for public dental care (59%)
• higher for people who usually visit a dentist for a check-up (69%) than those who visit with a dental problem (35%).

Reason for last dental visit

Among those who had visited a dental service within the previous 2 years for a check-up the proportion was:

• higher for adults aged 18-34 (77%) years than all other age groups
• lower for adults with year 10 or less of schooling (52%) than those with year 11 or more (68%)
• higher for people ineligible for public dental care (69%) than those eligible for public dental care (53%)
• higher people with dental insurance (73%) than those without insurance (51%).

Type of practice for last dental visit

The proportion of adults who visited a private dental practice for their last dental visit was:

• lower for Indigenous Australians (60%) than non-Indigenous Australians (86%)
• higher for those living in Major cities (86%) than those living in Inner regional (84%) and Outer regional and remote areas (79%)
• higher for those with dental insurance (95%) than those without dental insurance (74%).

Dental visiting pattern

This section reports on a combined measure, ‘visiting pattern’. This measure includes the components frequency of dental visits, the use of a regular dentist and usual reason for dental visiting. Generally, a favourable ‘visiting pattern’ is visiting a dentist once or more a year, usually for a check-up and having a usual dental provider. An unfavourable ‘visiting pattern’ is visiting less than every 2 years, usually for a problem and not having a usual dental provider. Other combinations of these 3 components are considered an intermediate ‘visiting pattern’ (Ellershaw & Spencer 2011).

The proportion of adults with a favourable visiting pattern was:

• higher for females (56%) than males (47%)
• lower for Indigenous Australians (38%) than non-Indigenous Australians (52%).
• higher for adults with year 11 or more of schooling (55%) than those with year 10 or less of schooling (38%)
• lower for adults eligible for public dental care (39%) than those ineligible for public dental care (55%).

Dental visiting trends

• The proportion of adults who made a dental visit in the previous 12 months was higher in 2021 (57%) than in 1994 (51%).
• The proportion of adults who visited a dentist in the previous 2 years for a check-up rather than dental problem has increased from 46% in 1994 to 66% in 2021.
• Between 1994 and 2021, the proportion of adults who visited a either a private or public dental practice has remained relatively stable.

Type of dental services received

Among dentate adults:

• there were no differences in the average number of visits or service types received by sex, age group, Indigenous identity or residential location
• adults with year 10 or less of schooling had, on average, a higher number of extractions (0.40) than those with year 11 or more of schooling (0.14)
• adults with dental insurance (0.11) had less extractions than people without dental insurance (0.32)
• adults without dental insurance had more fillings (0.71) than people with insurance (0.49)
• on average, people who usually visit the dentist for a problem made more visits (2.32) than people who usually visited for a check-up (1.96)
• adults who usually visit the dentist for a problem received, on average, more extractions than those who usually visit for a check-up, 0.55 and 0.10 respectively.

Trends in the type of dental services received

• Between 1994 and 2021, there has been an increase in the average number of scale and clean services (0.96 to 1.17 respectively) and a decrease in the average number of fillings received (0.93 to 0.55 respectively).
• The average number of extractions received has remained relatively stable over the period from 1994 to 2021, ranging from a high of 0.32 to a low of 0.18.

Explore the data further in Dental care interactives below.