Oral health and dental care in Australia

As described in the Introduction, oral health can impact an individual’s general health and wellbeing. Good oral functioning enables comfortable participation in everyday activities.

Social impacts of poor oral health

Measures of social impacts give insight into the effect of oral conditions on day-to-day living from the individual’s perspective. Experience of social impact reflects not only the level of oral disease experienced, but whether that disease had been treated in a timely fashion.

Social impacts of oral health for children aged 5 to 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 of a child aged 5–17 years old was asked about the child’s experience of oral health, toothache and avoiding eating certain foods because of dental problems.

Perception of fair or poor oral health

The proportion of children aged 5 to 17 years who rated their oral health as fair or poor was:

• slightly higher for males (8.7%) than females (6.1%)
• similar for children aged 5–10 years (8.5%) and those aged 11–17 years (6.5%)
• higher for children with an Australian Government concession card (14%) than those without (5.3%).

Experience of toothache

The proportion of children aged 5–17 years who experienced toothache in the previous 12 months was:

• higher for females (11%) than males (7.7%)
• higher for children with an Australian Government concession card (15%) than those without (7.6%).

Food avoidance

The proportion of children aged 5–17 years who avoided eating certain foods due to dental problems in the previous 12 months was:

• higher for females (19%) than males (12%)
• higher for children aged 11–17 years (18%) than those aged 5–10 years (12%)
• lower for children from families without dental insurance (12%) than those from families with dental insurance (17%).

Any social impact of oral health

For children aged 5–17 years:

• females (21%) were more likely to report having at least one social impact of oral health than males (14%)
• those that held an Australian Government concession card (33%) were more likely to report having at least one social impact of oral health than those who were not cardholders (16%).

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 1.

Trends in social impacts of oral health for Australian children

• Between 1999 and 2021, the prevalence of children avoiding eating certain foods due to dental problems increased overall from a low of 8.3% in 2002 to a high of 15% in 2021.

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 2.

Social impacts of oral health for adults aged 18 years and over

The following data were sourced from the National Dental Telephone Interview Survey 2021 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 to rate their oral health, their experience of toothache, how they feel about their dental appearance and whether they avoid eating certain foods.

Self-reported measures of oral health reflect an individual’s own experience of their oral health and are associated with functional impairment, discomfort and clinical measures.

Perception of fair or poor oral health

The proportion of adults aged 18 years and over who rated their oral health as fair or poor was:

• higher for males (28%) than females (20%)
• higher for Indigenous Australians (44%) than non-Indigenous Australians (24%)
• higher for those with Year 10 or less schooling (37%) than those with Year 11 or more (20%)
• higher for those eligible for public dental care (36%) than those ineligible for public dental care (20%)
• lower for those with dental insurance (14%) than those without dental insurance (35%)
• higher for those who usually visit the dentist for a dental problem (51%) than those who usually visit for a check-up (13%).

Toothache

The proportion of adults aged 18 years and over who reported experiencing toothache in the previous 12 months was:

• higher for Indigenous Australians (31%) than non-Indigenous Australians (18%)
• higher for those with Year 10 or less schooling (25%) than those with Year 11 or more (17%)
• higher for those eligible for public dental care (25%) than those ineligible for public dental care (17%)
• lower for those with dental insurance (14%) than those without dental insurance (24%)
• higher for those who usually visit the dentist for a problem (35%) than those who usually visit for a check-up (11%).

Uncomfortable with dental appearance

The proportion of adults aged 18 years and over who reported feeling uncomfortable about their dental appearance in the previous 12 months was:

• similar for males (30%) and females (33%)
• higher for Indigenous Australians (47%) than non-Indigenous Australians (31%)
• higher for those with Year 10 or less schooling (38%) than those with Year 11 or more (30%)
• higher for those who were eligible for public dental care (36%) than those who were ineligible for public dental care (30%)
• lower for those with dental insurance (25%) than those without dental insurance (39%)
• higher for those who usually visit the dentist for a problem (48%) than those who usually visit for a check-up (24%)

Food avoidance

The proportion of adults aged 18 years and over who reported avoiding certain foods due to dental problems in the previous 12 months was:

• higher for Indigenous Australians (33%) than non-Indigenous Australians (23%)
• higher for those with Year 10 or less schooling (33%) than those with Year 11 or more (20%)
• higher for those eligible for public dental care (34%) than those ineligible for public dental care (19%)
• lower for those with dental insurance (18%) than those without dental insurance (29%)
• higher for those who usually visit the dentist for a problem (40%) than those who usually visit for a check-up (15%)

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 3.

Trends in social impacts of oral health for adult Australians aged 18 years and over

• The greatest increase over this period was the proportion of people who reported feeling uncomfortable with their dental appearance increasing from 20% in 1994 to 32% in 2021.
• The proportion of people reporting toothache over the previous 12 months increased from 11% in 1994 to 19% in 2021.
• The proportion of people avoiding certain foods because of dental problems increased from 15% in 1994 to 22% in 2021.

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 4.

• The proportion of 18–34 years olds who rated their oral health as fair or poor has increased from 15% in 2005 to 19% in 2021.

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 5.

Burden of disease

Oral disorders cause very few deaths yet are highly prevalent in the Australian community. The Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024 (AIHW 2024) estimates the burden of dental caries, periodontal disease, severe tooth loss (having fewer than 10 teeth) and other oral disorders.

Oral disorders did not contribute to fatal burden for children aged 5–14. Dental caries was among the top 20 causes of non-fatal burden for both boys and girls, with periodontal disease falling just outside the top 20 causes (AIHW 2024).

Changes in non-fatal burden (YLD) rates are influenced by changes in the prevalence and/or the severity of the disease. After adjusting for ageing of the population, the age-standardised rate of oral disorders remained stable between 2003 and 2024. However, the rate of periodontal disease increased by 40% between 2003 and 2024 (AIHW 2024). 

The data presented in Interactive 6 reflects the progression of untreated dental disease across the life stages. In 2024:

• The relative proportion of non-fatal burden due to dental caries decreased with age from 99% in children aged 0–14 years to 14% in those aged 85 and over.
• Half of non-fatal burden due to oral disorders in people aged 85 years and over was due to severe tooth loss (50%), followed by periodontal disease (36%).

Explore the data further in Healthy lives interactive 6.

Oral cancers

Cancer (as a disease group) was the leading cause of total disease burden in Australia in 2024 (AIHW 2024). Treatment can be more effective when cancer is detected at an earlier stage, and dental practitioners play an important role in this. Cancer of the lip, tongue, mouth, salivary glands and oropharynx are those cancers that are detectable in an oral examination by a dental practitioner. Detection of cancer at an earlier stage is one of the factors associated with better cancer survival, along with other factors such as the effectiveness of treatment.

• Between 1989–1993 and 2016–2020 the 5-year relative survival for selected oral cancers increased from 70% to 77%.
• In 2016–2020, the 5-year relative survival for selected oral cancers varied from 64% for cancer of the mouth to 94% for cancer of the lip.
• In 2020, there were 3,875 cases of selected oral cancers, including 1,087 cases of cancer of the tongue – making it the most common oral cancer in this group.
• In 2020, there were 703 deaths from selected oral cancers, including 230 deaths from cancer of the Tonsil and oropharynx.

Explore the data using the interactives below.