Dental workforce

All dental practitioners must be registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to practise in Australia. There is a range of different types of registration to match different levels of training and experience. Most dental practitioners have general registration. General registration divisions include dentists, dental prosthetists, dental hygienists, oral health therapists and dental therapists. Dentists may also qualify and be eligible for specialist registration. There are 13 approved dental specialities in Australia (Dental Board of Australia 2018).

Data presented in this section were sourced from the National Health Workforce Dataset (NHWDS).

Key terms

Full-time equivalent (FTE) rate: The FTE rate (number of FTE dental practitioners per 100,000 population) is a measure of supply. By defining supply in terms of the FTE rate, meaningful comparisons of supply can be made across geographic areas and over time.

Size and distribution of the dental workforce

Data on the size and distribution of the dental workforce is required to understand the current dental workforce and its capacity to meet the community’s needs for prevention and treatment of oral disease.

The number of all registered dental practitioners in Australia has increased from 20,469 in 2013 to 24,626 in 2020

  • The number of registered dentists in Australia has increased from 15,479 in 2013 to 18,383 in 2020.
  • Around 9 in 10 of all dental practitioners registered in 2020 were employed in their field.
  • The proportion of dentists employed in their field has remained relatively stable, ranging from 89% in 2013 to 91.4% in 2019 with a slight reduction to 91.1% in 2020.

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 1 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 1: 

This figure shows the number and per cent of dental practitioners registered and employed, by practitioner type. National data is presented for 2013 to 2020. In 2020, there were 18,383 dentists registered in Australia.

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.

In 2020, the number of FTE dentists in Australia was 57.9 per 100,000 population, which is a slight reduction from 58.7 per 100,000 population in 2019.

In 2020:

  • Across jurisdictions, the Australian Capital Territory had the highest FTE rate of dentists (67.4), Tasmania had the highest FTE rate of dental prosthetists (7.8), South Australia had the highest FTE rate of dental hygienists (11.9) and oral health therapists (10.5) and Western Australia had the highest FTE rate of dental therapists (6.7).
  • Across remoteness areas, Major cities had the highest FTE rate of dentists (63.8), dental hygienists (4.9) and oral health therapists (7.4). Inner regional areas had the highest FTE rate of dental prosthetists (5.4) and Remote and very remote areas had the highest FTE rate of dental therapists (3.7).
  • The FTE rate of dentists ranged from 32.9 in the Northern Territory to 67.4 in the Australian Capital Territory.
  • The FTE rate of dentists ranged from 26.3 in Remote and very remote areas to 63.8 in Major cities.

Over time:

  • The FTE rate of dentists in Australia ranged from 55.5 in 2013 to 58.7 in 2019 with a reduction to 57.9 in 2020.
  • The FTE rate of oral health therapists in Australia has steadily increased from 3.2 in 2013 to 6.9 in 2020.

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 2 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 2: 

This figure shows the full time equivalent dental practitioners per 100,000 population, by practitioner type and remoteness. National, state and territory data is presented for 2013 to 2020. In 2020, the number of full time equivalent dentists was 57.9 per 100,000 population in Australia.

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.

Major cities had the highest FTE rate of dentists employed in the private sector (52.1 per 100,000 population) whilst Remote and very remote areas had the highest FTE rate of dentists employed in the public sector (9.5) in 2020.

In 2020, the Australian Capital Territory had the highest FTE rate of dentists employed in the private sector (54.5) and Victoria had the lowest FTE rate of dentists employed in the public sector (4.1) whilst the Northern Territory had the lowest FTE rate of dentists employed in the private sector (20.7) and the highest FTE rate of dentists employed in the public sector (9.8).

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 3 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 3: 

This figure shows the full time equivalent dentists per 100,000 population employed in the public and private sectors. National, state and territory data is presented for 2013 to 2020. In Australia, the FTE rate of dentists employed in the public sector was 5.4 per 100,000 population as compared to 46.9 per 100,000 dentists employed in the private sector in 2020.

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.

Characteristics of employed dentists

Data presented in this section focuses on the characteristics of dentists employed in Australia.

In 2020, around 4 in 10 (44%) employed dentists were female

In 2020:

  • Around 5 in 10 employed dentists worked part-time (49.8%).
  • 1 in 5 were aged 30 years and less (19%).
  • Around 1 in 4 employed dentists obtained their initial qualification in countries other than Australia and New Zealand (25%).

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 4 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 4: 

This figure shows the proportion of employed dentists, by selected characteristics. National data is presented for 2013 to 2020. In 2020, 49.8% of employed dentists were part-time and 43.2% were female.

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.

In 2020, dentists employed in Australia predominantly worked in private practices

  • In 2020, the majority of dentists worked in group private practices (9,111) or solo private practices (4,373) accounting for 83% of all employed dentists in Australia. This trend was similar across all jurisdictions except for NT where 56% were private clinics and 21% were public clinics.
  • In 2020, 787 (4.9%) dentists worked in public clinics in Australia.

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 5 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 5: 

This figure shows the number of dentists, by main employment setting. National, state and territory data is presented for 2020. In Australia, 9,111 dentists were employed in group private practice.

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.

Dental specialists

There are 13 approved dental specialties in Australia. All specialists must hold a qualification in the specialty and meet all the requirements for general registration as a dentist (Dental Board of Australia 2018).

In 2020, around 1 in 10 (9.8%) employed dentists were specialists

In 2020:

  • The largest group of dental specialists in Australia were orthodontists (560) equivalent to 35.2% of all dental specialists.
  • Around 3 in 4 (70.4%) dental specialists in Australia were male.

Explore the data using the Dental workforce interactive 6 below.

Dental workforce – Interactive 6: 
This figure shows the number of dental specialists employed, by sex and area of specialty. National data is presented for 2020. In 2020, the largest group of dental specialists in Australia were orthodontists (560).

See Data tables: Dental workforce for data tables.