Healthy teeth are an integral part of good oral health and enable people to eat, speak and socialise without pain, discomfort or embarrassment.
Key terms
- Deciduous teeth: Primary or ‘baby’ teeth that erupt (that is, become visible in the mouth) during infancy. A child usually has 20 deciduous teeth.
- Permanent teeth: Secondary or ‘adult’ teeth that start to erupt at around 6 years of age. A person usually has 32 permanent teeth.
- Dental caries: A disease process that can lead to cavities (small holes) in the tooth structure that compromise both the structure and the health of the tooth, commonly known as tooth decay.
- The dmft and DMFT score: A score that counts the number of teeth that are decayed (d), missing due to caries (m) or filled because of caries (f)—‘dmft’ refers to deciduous teeth, ‘DMFT’ refers to permanent teeth.
- Dental caries experience: When a person has a dmft or DMFT score that is greater than zero, this is known as having dental caries experience.
How healthy are children’s teeth?
Data in this section were sourced from the National Child Oral Health Study 2012–14 (Do & Spencer 2016). This nationally representative population-based survey involved data from almost 25,000 children aged 5–14 from across Australia. Information was collected via a parental questionnaire and a detailed dental examination by trained dental professionals.
In 2011, oral diseases accounted for 8.1% and 4.1% of the non-fatal burden of disease among Australia children aged 5–9 and 10–14, respectively. Almost all (99%) non-fatal burden is due to dental caries making it the most prevalent oral disease in Australian children (AIHW 2019).
How many teeth are affected by decay?
The average number of teeth affected by decay gives an indication of the severity of disease.
Australian children aged 5–10 had an average of 1.5 decayed, missing and filled deciduous teeth
Dental caries experience for deciduous teeth of 5–10 year olds varied between states and territories. Interactive 1 shows that dmft:
- was highest in Northern Territory children with an average of 2.4 affected teeth per person, followed by Queensland children (2.1)
- was lowest for children in the Australian Capital Territory (1.0).
Australian children aged 6–14 had an average of 0.5 decayed, missing and filled permanent teeth
Dental caries experience for permanent teeth in 6–14 year olds varied between states and territories. Interactive 1 shows that DMFT:
- was highest in Northern Territory and Queensland children with an average of 0.8 affected teeth per person
- was lowest for children in the Australian Capital Territory (0.2).