Oral health and dental care in Australia

Data presented in this section were sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Patient Experience Survey (ABS Patient Experience Survey, various). Patient experience surveys obtain patients’ views and observations on aspects of health care services they have received. This includes their views on the accessibility of services and the physical environment, and aspects of the patient-clinician interaction.

This kind of information can be very useful for health services and others who are interested in driving continuous improvement in health services. Australia’s National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024 (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing 2015) is underpinned by four guiding principles, including that services be accessible to all who need them, with respect for individuals needs and views.

Use of dental services

• The proportion of adults aged 15 years and over who reported visiting a dental professional in the last 12 months remained relatively stable throughout the period 2013–14 to 2023–24, at around half of all adults.

In 2023–24:

• more females (57%) than males (49%) saw a dental professional
• people who self-assessed their health as fair/poor (49%) were less likely to have seen a dental professional than those who self-assessed their health as excellent/very good/good (54%)
• people living in areas of least socio-economic disadvantage (65%) were more likely to have seen a dental professional than those living in areas of most disadvantage (42%)
• people living in Major cities (55%) were more likely to have seen a dental professional than those living in Inner regional (48%) areas or Outer regional, Remote and very remote areas (46%).

Explore the data using the Patient experience interactive 1 below.

Patient experience interactive 1: Use of dental services in the last 12 months by selected characteristics

Need for dental services

In 2023–24, 62% of Australians aged 15 years and over reported that they needed to see a dental professional in the last 12 months. Most people who needed to, saw a dental professional (85%), with nearly half of those seeing a dental professional 2 or three times (47%).

Explore the data using the Patient experience interactive 2 below.

Patient experience interactive 2: Need for dental services in the last 12 months

In 2023–24:

• people aged 85+ years (53%) were less likely to have needed to see a dental professional than any other age group
• people living in Major cities (64%) were more likely to have needed to see a dental professional than those living in Inner regional (60%) and Outer regional, Remote and very remote areas (56%)
• people living in areas of least disadvantage (71%) were more likely to have needed to see a dental professional than those living in areas of most disadvantage (53%)
• people with long-term health conditions (67%) were more likely to have needed to see a dental professional than those without long-term health conditions (57%).

Explore the data using the Patient experience interactive 3 below.

Patient experience interactive 3: Proportion of adults aged 15 years and over who either needed or did not need to see a dental professional in the last 12 months by selected characteristics

In 2023–24:

• people aged 25–34 years (20%) were more likely to have needed to but not seen a dental professional than any other age group
• people living in Major cities (13%) were less likely to have needed to but not seen a dental professional than those living in Inner regional (19%) and Outer regional, Remote and very remote (17%) areas
• people who self-assessed their health as excellent/very good/good (86%) were more likely to have needed to and seen a dental professional than those who self-assessed their health as fair/poor (78%).

Explore the data using the Patient experience interactive 4 below.

Patient experience interactive 4: Proportion of adults aged 15 years and over who needed to and either saw or did not see a dental professional in the last 12 months by selected characteristics

Experience of dental services

Adults aged 15 years and over were asked about their experience with dental professionals they had seen in the last 12 months. In 2023–24:

• around 9 in 10 (88%) thought their dental professional always spent enough time with them
• most thought their dental professional always listened carefully (86%)
• around 1 in 10 (11%) received public dental care
• around 1 in 6 (18%) delayed or did not see a dental professional when needed due to cost.

Explore the data using the Patient experience interactive 5 below.

Patient experience interactive 5: Experience of adults aged 15 years and over who needed to and saw a dental professional in the last 12 months by selected characteristics