• GEN Aged Care Data
    • Metadata Online Registry (METeOR)
    • Australian Mesothelioma Registry
    • Housing data
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework
  • Contact us
  • Help & tools
  • Increase text size
  • Decrease text size
Home - Australian Government - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare - logo AIHW - logo
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    COVID-19
  • Reports & data Use down arrow to expand
    Reports & data

    Find reports & data by topic

    • Health & welfare overview
    • Health & welfare services
    • Population groups
    • Health conditions, disability & deaths
    • Behaviours & risk factors
    • Corporate publications
    Suicide & self-harm monitoring Data and information on suicide and self-harm in Australia Hospitals Australia’s national hospital reporting platform Australia's health performance The latest on Australia’s health and health system performance
    • A-Z topics
    • Latest releases
    • Resources

    Featured

    • Australia's health 2020 Australia's health 2020 is the AIHW’s 17th biennial report on the health of Australians.
    • Australia's welfare 2019 Australia’s welfare 2019 is the 14th biennial welfare report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
  • Our services Use down arrow to expand
    Our services
    • Committees
    • Data on request
    • Data linkage
    • International collaboration
    • Metadata support
    • Validata
  • About our data Use down arrow to expand
    About our data
    • AIHW data by geography
    • Accessing government health & welfare data
    • Data governance
    • Metadata standards
    • Our data collections
  • News & media Use down arrow to expand
    News & media
    • Latest news & events
    • Media releases
    • For the media
    • Subscribe to release notices
    • Forthcoming releases
    • Podcasts
  • About us Use down arrow to expand
    About us
    • Careers
    • Freedom of information
    • Corporate publications
    • Our governance
    • Our people & structure
    • Our vision & strategic goals
    • Privacy
    • Public interest disclosure
    • Gifts & benefits register
    • Submissions to inquiries
    • Tenders
    • What we do
    • GEN Aged Care Data
    • Metadata Online Registry (METeOR)
    • Australian Mesothelioma Registry
    • Housing data
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework
  • Contact us
  • Help & tools
  • Increase text size
  • Decrease text size
You are here: Home Reports & data Dental & oral health Oral health and dental care in Australia
Go to Dental & oral health
Share via email

Oral health and dental care in Australia

Web report
Last updated: 31 Jul 2020
Author: AIHW
Media release

Citation

AIHW

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2020. Oral health and dental care in Australia. Cat. no. DEN 231. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 26 January 2021, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia

APA

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020). Oral health and dental care in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia

MLA

Oral health and dental care in Australia. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 31 July 2020, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia

Vancouver

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Oral health and dental care in Australia [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2020 [cited 2021 Jan. 26]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia

Harvard

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020, Oral health and dental care in Australia, viewed 26 January 2021, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/dental-oral-health/oral-health-and-dental-care-in-australia

Get citations as an Endnote file: Endnote

Latest edition

This report presents key data, information and trends over time, via a suite of interactive data visualisations, describing the oral health status of Australians and their use of dental care services. It is added to and updated as data becomes available. In 2019, the Australian Government paid benefits averaging $53 per preventive service provided under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.  In 2017–18, about 72,000 hospitalisations for dental conditions may have been prevented with earlier treatment. The proportion of dentate adults aged 15 years and over who avoided or delayed dental care due to cost increased from 31% in 2004–06 to 39% in 2017–18.

This report was last updated on 31 July 2020. Refer to Notes for further explanation.

  • Cat. no: DEN 231
Findings from this report:
  • In 2017–18, private health insurers paid benefits for around 31.8 million dental services provided across Australia

  • In 2017–18, about 72,000 hospitalisations for dental conditions may have been prevented with earlier treatment

  • Over 1 million dental prescriptions were dispensed in Australia each year (2013–2019)

  • In 2016, there were 57.7 dentists per 100,000 population in Australia

Show navigation
Back to topic
  • Contents
    • Introduction
    • Healthy teeth
    • Healthy mouths
    • Healthy lives
    • Preventative strategies
    • Dental care
    • Hospitalisations
    • Prescribing
    • Patient experience
    • Costs
    • Private health insurance
    • Dental workforce
    • Data sources
    • Technical notes
  • Notes
  • Report editions
  • Related material

Related material

Latest related reports

  • National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024: performance monitoring report: in brief  03 Dec 2020
  • National Oral Health Plan 2015–2024: performance monitoring report  03 Dec 2020

Last updated 20/02/2019 v3.0

AIHW

  • Reports & data
  • Our services
  • About our data
  • News & media
  • About us

Using AIHW

  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Indexed list of files
  • Privacy
  • Site map

Quick links

  • Home
  • Our data collections
  • Data on request
  • Data linkage

Connect with us

Follow AIHW on Twitter Visit AIHW on YouTube Connect with AIHW on LinkedIn

© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2021

Creative Commons
Close

Feedback

We'd love to know any feedback that you have about the AIHW website, its contents or reports.

Required fields

The browser you are using to browse this website is outdated and some features may not display properly or be accessible to you. Please use a more recent browser for the best user experience.