Oral health and dental care in Australia

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed an action plan to address oral diseases, including a monitoring framework to track progress toward measurable targets by 2030 (WHO 2022). As part of this initiative, the WHO provides country-level reporting on various aspects of oral health, with the prevalence of oral diseases forming one component (WHO 2025). In 2019, the prevalence of:

• untreated caries in deciduous teeth among Australian children aged 1–9 years was 39.0%, placing Australia 23rd among the 38 OECD countries and 45th globally on this indicator.
• untreated caries in permanent teeth among Australians aged 5 years and older was 29.5%, placing Australia 11th among the 38 OECD countries and 55th globally on this indicator. 
• severe periodontal disease among individuals aged 15 years and older was 14.5%, placing Australia 5th among the 38 OECD countries and 46th globally on this indicator. 
• edentulism among individuals aged 20 years and older was 13.5%, placing Australia 29^th among the 38 OECD countries and 175^th globally on this indicator.

Data for these indicators are sourced from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 (GBD 2019) (Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network 2020).

Explore the data using the Global comparisons interactive 1 below:

Global comparison Interactive 1: Prevalence of oral diseases, OECD countries