Fact · Self-pay
Dental public coverage: Australia, 2026
Dental Market Radar Editorial Team · Updated · Data as of
Australia: No universal public dental cover: Medicare does not pay for most dental care. Children 0-17 in families receiving certain Services Australia payments get up to A$1,158 per child over 2 calendar years for basic services (check-ups, X-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, root canals, extractions) under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule; orthodontic, cosmetic and in-hospital dental services are excluded. States and territories run means-tested public dental services (with Commonwealth funding for adults). Private health insurance extras cover is the main other payer. in 2026, according to Services Australia What's covered by the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. Basis: other.
Comparability B Confidence high
Cite this
Services Australia. (2026). Dental public coverage: Australia, as of 2026-11-09 [Data set]. Compiled by Dental Market Radar. https://dentalmarketradar.com/data/au/dental-public-coverage/2026/
Permanent URL: https://dentalmarketradar.com/data/au/dental-public-coverage/2026/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Record
- Value
- No universal public dental cover: Medicare does not pay for most dental care. Children 0-17 in families receiving certain Services Australia payments get up to A$1,158 per child over 2 calendar years for basic services (check-ups, X-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, root canals, extractions) under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule; orthodontic, cosmetic and in-hospital dental services are excluded. States and territories run means-tested public dental services (with Commonwealth funding for adults). Private health insurance extras cover is the main other payer.
- Unit
- text
- As of
- Accessed
- Revision
- 1
- Confidence
- high
- Method
- reported
- Basis
- other
- Scope
- other
- Comparability
- Comparability B B: close to the metric definition; the difference is noted
- Status
- Latest record for this market and metric
Source quote
We cover up to $1,158 for each eligible child over 2 calendar years for basic dental services under CDBS. ... The services we won’t cover are all of the following: orthodontic dental work cosmetic dental work any dental services in a hospital.
Locator: Services Australia 'What's covered' page, first paragraph and exclusions list; Health Department dental health topic page
Local definition
Public funding of dental care in Australia (Commonwealth CDBS plus state/territory public dental services)
Source
Services Australia: What's covered by the Child Dental Benefits Schedule. Registry entry: au-services-australia-cdbs.
Notes
Second source (au-doh-dental-health-topic, https://www.health.gov.au/topics/dental-health): "To help improve dental health, state and territory governments provide public dental services." and "manage the government funding agreement with states and territories to provide more public dental services for adults". CDBS eligibility: aged 0-17 for at least one day in the year, Medicare-eligible, family receiving an eligible payment. Cap indexed each 1 January ($1,095 applied to periods starting 2024).
Metric definition
What public (social or national) health insurance pays for in dental care; short text, original scope noted All markets for this metric.
History
| Year | Value | Basis | As of | Comparability | Source | Series break |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | No universal public dental cover: Medicare does not pay for most dental care. Children 0-17 in families receiving certain Services Australia payments get up to A$1,158 per child over 2 calendar years for basic services (check-ups, X-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, root canals, extractions) under the Child Dental Benefits Schedule; orthodontic, cosmetic and in-hospital dental services are excluded. States and territories run means-tested public dental services (with Commonwealth funding for adults). Private health insurance extras cover is the main other payer. | other | Comparability B | What's covered by the Child Dental Benefits Schedule |
Please also cite the original source above.
Same metric in other markets
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