Market · Oceania
Australia has 65.6 dentists per 100,000 people (practising basis, 2024)
Dental market data for Australia: 17 sourced metrics with as-of dates, source links and comparability ratings; gaps are listed explicitly.
Dental Market Radar Editorial Team · Updated · Data as of
Australia had 65.6 dentists per 100,000 people in 2024 (practising basis), derived from 17,831 practising dentists (OECD Health Statistics) divided by total population (World Bank WDI).
Key points
- Australia had 17,831 practising dentists in 2024, according to OECD Health Statistics.
- Australia had 21,141 registered dentists in 2025, according to Ahpra and Dental Board of Australia Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra 2024/25 data tables.
- Australia had 20,296 dental businesses in 2025, according to ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2.
- Australia had 1,996 dental hygienists in 2025, according to Ahpra and Dental Board of Australia Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra 2024/25 data tables.
- Australia has no reliable figure for dental clinics (the authorities do not publish it). See the data record.
Coverage of the expected metric set: 10 of 12 have a value (1 of them stale), 2 are documented as no reliable figure, 0 are not yet collected. See the coverage matrix.
Cite this
Dental Market Radar (dentalmarketradar.com), Australia dental market data, https://dentalmarketradar.com/markets/au/
Permanent URL: https://dentalmarketradar.com/markets/au/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Key stats
Versus the region
What is the population of Australia?
Australia had a population of 27,600,000 in 2025, according to ABS National, state and territory population, June 2025.
What is the GDP per capita of Australia?
Australia had a GDP per capita of US$65,130 in 2025, according to World Bank WDI.
How many dentists are there in Australia?
Australia had 21,141 registered dentists in 2025, according to Ahpra and Dental Board of Australia Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra 2024/25 data tables.
How many practising dentists are there in Australia?
Australia had 17,831 practising dentists in 2024, according to OECD Health Statistics.
How many dentists per 100,000 people does Australia have?
Australia had 65.6 dentists per 100,000 people in 2024 (practising basis), derived from 17,831 practising dentists (OECD Health Statistics) divided by total population (World Bank WDI).
How many dental clinics are there in Australia?
Australia does not publish an official count of dental clinics. The ABS counts 20,296 dental businesses in 2025, according to ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2. A business is not a clinic: one business can run several premises.
How many dental hygienists are there in Australia?
Australia had 1,996 dental hygienists in 2025, according to Ahpra and Dental Board of Australia Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra 2024/25 data tables.
How many dental technicians are there in Australia?
Australia had 2,800 dental technicians in 2021, according to Jobs and Skills Australia Occupation profile.
How many dentists graduate each year in Australia?
Australia had 652 new dental graduates in 2024, according to Higher Education Statistics 2024, Section 14 - Award course completions.
Tier-1 snapshot
Per-capita rates use World Bank total population for the same year; the national statistics figure stays in the Context table below.
Workforce
Facilities
| Metric | Latest value | Basis | As of | Comparability | Source | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental clinics total | Not published why No reliable figure found: no official or registry count of dental practice sites exists in Australia. Ahpra registers practitioners, not premises; ABS CABEE counts businesses by ABN (see… | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Not available | |
| Hospitals with a dental department | Source blocked why No reliable figure found: no national count of hospitals with a dental department is published by the Health Department or ABS. Public dental care is delivered by state/territory dental services… | other | Comparability C | Dental health (topic page) | Not available | |
| DSO share of dental clinics (%) (tier 2) | Not published why No reliable figure found: no official measure. ABS counts businesses, not sites, so a group share cannot be derived from CABEE. Leads: site counts of the larger groups (Pacific Smiles, Abano/Maven,… | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Not available | |
| Dental businesses total (tier 2) | 20,296 businesses | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Value |
Self-pay
Digital
| Metric | Latest value | Basis | As of | Comparability | Source | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intraoral scanners installed (tier 2) | Not published why No reliable figure found: no official, association or company-published Australian count. Lead: ADA member survey or distributor disclosures (Henry Schein, Straumann/Dental Wings). | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Not available | |
| Chairside cadcam installed base (tier 2) | Not published why No reliable figure found: no public Australian count located. Lead: Dentsply Sirona regional disclosures (aggregate APAC only). | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Not available | |
| Dental 3d printer installed base (tier 2) | Not published why No reliable figure found: no public Australian count located. | other | Comparability C | Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 | Not available | |
| Ios penetration % dentists (tier 2) | No record | No record |
Sleep
| Metric | Latest value | Basis | As of | Comparability | Source | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult OSA prevalence (%) (tier 2) | 4.8% (stale) | estimate | Comparability C | Benjafield AV et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea. Lancet Respir Med 2019 | Value (stale) | |
| Oral appliance reimbursement (tier 2) | No dedicated public (Medicare/MBS) benefit for oral appliances for OSA was identified; some private health insurance extras policies contribute towards dental… | other | Comparability C | Sleep apnoea and CPAP: what your health insurance actually covers | Value |
Context
| Metric | Latest value | Basis | As of | Comparability | Source | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 27,600,000 persons | other | Comparability A | National, state and territory population, June 2025 (media release) | Value | |
| GDP per capita (US$) | US$65,130 | other | Comparability A | World Bank WDI: GDP per capita (current US$), Australia | Value |
Local definitions
- Population
- Estimated resident population at 30 June 2025, rounded to 0.1 million in the release
- GDP per capita (US$)
- GDP per capita in current US dollars (market exchange rate)
- Dentists (total)
- Practitioners registered in the Dentist division (alone or with another division), headcount at 30 June
- Dentists (practising)
- Practising dentists (OECD measure P); OBS_STATUS E (estimated)
- Dentists per 100,000 population
- Headline rate (DECISIONS L4/L5): dentists_practising (OECD practising) divided by World Bank total population, same year
- Dental hygienists total
- Practitioners registered in the Dental hygienist division (alone or with other divisions)
- Dental technicians total
- Persons employed in ANZSCO 411213 Dental Technicians (2021 Census, place of usual residence), rounded
- Dental graduates annual
- Award course completions (all students, domestic and overseas) in courses leading to registration as a dentist (special interest course 8.05)
- Dental schools total
- Universities with an ADC-accredited, Dental Board-approved program whose graduates are eligible to register as a Dentist
- Dental public coverage
- Public funding of dental care in Australia (Commonwealth CDBS plus state/territory public dental services)
Documented gaps
Reasons: No figure found (gap): we searched and found nothing; Not applicable (structural): the measure does not exist or does not apply there; Source blocked (blocked_source): a source exists but could not be read; Not published (not_published): the authorities do not publish it.
- Dental clinics total: not_published. No reliable figure found: no official or registry count of dental practice sites exists in Australia. Ahpra registers practitioners, not premises; ABS CABEE counts businesses by ABN (see dental_businesses_total: 20,296 at June 2025). AIHW reports about 84% of employed dentists work in group or solo private practice… (record)
- Hospitals with a dental department: blocked_source. No reliable figure found: no national count of hospitals with a dental department is published by the Health Department or ABS. Public dental care is delivered by state/territory dental services (community clinics and dental hospitals such as Westmead Centre for Oral Health, Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne,… (record)
- DSO share of dental clinics (%): not_published. No reliable figure found: no official measure. ABS counts businesses, not sites, so a group share cannot be derived from CABEE. Leads: site counts of the larger groups (Pacific Smiles, Abano/Maven, National Dental Care, Bupa Dental, 1300SMILES) divided by a site-based total, which does not exist officially; definition… (record)
- Clear aligner cases annual: gap. No reliable figure found: the GTD report does not separate aligners from other appliances. Nearest indicator: 140,162 privately insured items in "Complete Courses of Orthodontic Treatment" in 2024-25 (all appliance types, insured only). No official or association aligner count located. (record)
- Intraoral scanners installed: not_published. No reliable figure found: no official, association or company-published Australian count. Lead: ADA member survey or distributor disclosures (Henry Schein, Straumann/Dental Wings). (record)
- Chairside cadcam installed base: not_published. No reliable figure found: no public Australian count located. Lead: Dentsply Sirona regional disclosures (aggregate APAC only). (record)
- Dental 3d printer installed base: not_published. No reliable figure found: no public Australian count located. (record)
Data notes
Series breaks: a change in source or definition inside a series. A jump across a break is never growth.
No series breaks documented.
Desk notes on gaps
The 9 legacy AU records (2026-11-08) are unchanged. Desk D appended 18 new-schema records below them in data/facts/AU.yaml. The new sources are in data/sources.d/AU.yaml.
Tier 1
| Metric | Status | Value / reason |
|---|---|---|
| population | filled (legacy) | 27.6 million, 30 Jun 2025 (ABS media release). Legacy record has no quote; the World Bank gives 27,614,411 for 2025 if a quoted backfill is wanted |
| gdp_per_capita_usd | filled, medium | US$65,129.7 (2025, World Bank WDI) |
| dentists_total | filled (legacy) | 21,141 registered (30 Jun 2025, derived from Dental Board Table 4) |
| dentists_practising | filled (legacy), medium | 17,831 (2024, OECD measure "practising") |
| dentists_per_100k | filled (legacy), derived | 76.6 (registered basis) |
| dental_hygienists_total | filled (legacy) | 1,996 registered incl. combined divisions (2025) |
| dental_technicians_total | filled, comparability B | 2,800 employed (ABS 2021 Census via Jobs and Skills Australia, rounded). Technicians are not registered by Ahpra, so no register count exists. Legacy 2025 record stays null |
| dental_graduates_annual | filled, comparability C | 730 course completions in 2022 (Dept of Education data reproduced in Health Dept model paper, Apr 2026). Likely includes oral-health programs, so it overstates dentist graduates |
| dental_schools_total | filled, derived | 9 universities with an ADC-accredited, Board-approved dentist program (10 programs) |
| dental_clinics_total | filled, comparability C | 20,296 dental-services businesses (ABS CABEE, June 2025); 8,915 of them have employees. These are businesses (ABNs), not sites |
| hospitals_with_dental_dept | null (documented) | No national count is published |
| dental_public_coverage | filled | Child Dental Benefits Schedule (A$1,158 cap over 2 years, ages 0-17, means-tested) plus state/territory public dental services. Medicare does not cover most adult dental care |
Tier 2 scan
| Metric | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| implant_procedures_annual | filled, medium, C | 196,433 privately insured items "Procedures for Implant Prostheses" (FY2024-25, Health Dept GTD report). Insured items only, so treat it as a floor indicator, not an implant count |
| clear_aligner_cases_annual | null | GTD does not separate aligners. Complete orthodontic courses: 140,162 insured items (2024-25) |
| dental_spend_total_usd | filled, medium, B | US$9.56 billion at PPP (A$13.15 billion), 2023, from OECD SHA HC.1.3.2 |
| self_pay_share_of_dental_spend_pct | filled, derived | 60.7% household out-of-pocket (2023). Out-of-pocket plus private insurance is 87.4% |
| osa_prevalence_adult_pct | filled, low (modelled) | 4.8% (AHI≥15, ages 30-69, Benjafield 2019), same method as JP |
| oral_appliance_reimbursement | filled, low | No Medicare/MBS item located; some private "extras" policies contribute. Needs an MBS/DVA schedule check |
| ios / chairside CAD/CAM / 3D printer installed base | null | No public count |
| dso_clinic_share_pct | null | No site-based denominator; definition not agreed |
Why cells are weak, and best leads
- Hospitals with a dental department: AIHW (MyHospitals, hospital resources) blocks crawlers in robots.txt, so we did not fetch it. Lead: count each state's dental hospitals and public hospital dental units from state health sites.
- Graduates: A dentist-only series exists in the Department of Education uCube (Higher Education Statistics, field "Dental Studies", by course). It is an interactive cube that was not fetched. Ahpra/Dental Board first-time registrants (1,482 in 2024/25, of which 1,012 domestic "including new graduates") mix all divisions.
- Practising dentists: AIHW National Health Workforce Dataset (hwd.health.gov.au) has dentists by "employed in dentistry". The OECD 17,831 comes from that dataset. The legacy record has no quote; a backfill could cite the OECD SDMX row.
- Dental spend: OECD data is FY-based for Australia; the national source (AIHW Health expenditure Australia) is robots-blocked.
- Blocked or unreachable routes this session: aihw.gov.au and tga.gov.au (robots.txt). health.gov.au and servicesaustralia.gov.au time out for curl and WebFetch from this workstation but load in a browser. The ahpra.gov.au "Approved programs of study" page renders blank.
Cross-check notes (for the 10% cross-check desk)
crosscheck.py --countries AUresult: au.dental_technicians_total.2021 (jobsandskills.gov.au) and au.implant_procedures_annual.2025 (health.gov.au xlsx) come back UNFETCHABLE (HTTP 000 from curl). Both were read in a browser and need to be checked there. The ABS xlsx records are PASS-WEAK (all figures present).- Quotes from xlsx tables (ABS, GTD) and the ADC list join cells with " | ". The ADC school quote lists the 10 rows.
Proposed metrics
dental_businesses_total: ABS business counts (ANZSIC 8531) as their own metric. Keepdental_clinics_totalfor site-based counts.dental_prosthetists_total: registered denture providers (AU 1,319 in 2025; NZ has the equivalent "clinical dental technicians", 260).oral_health_therapists_total: AU and NZ register OHTs (NZ 1,066), who do work counted elsewhere as hygienist/therapist work.dental_spend_total_local: local-currency dental spend, to avoid PPP vs market-rate ambiguity (desk A raised the same need for JP).
Block 2 update (2026-11-09, after leader rulings L7/L9)
- Graduates, dentist-only: 652 (2024) and 636 (2023). Source: Department of Education Section 14 award course completions, Table 14.19 "Registration as a Dentist", series 2015-2024. This replaces the 730 all-dental-courses value as the headline. The uCube domain does not resolve from this workstation, so the published workbook was used instead.
- Clinic sites: documented null (
au.dental_clinics_total.2026). No official or registry site count exists. ABS counts businesses and stays indental_businesses_total; desk A moves those records. - Oral-appliance reimbursement: checked against the schedules directly (
au.oral_appliance_reimbursement.2026-dva). - MBS (item descriptions file, 1 Nov 2026): no item pays for an OSA oral appliance. Item 12205 names one only as a prior treatment.
- DVA dental schedule (1 Jul 2026): items D983/S983 (single-arch) and D984/S984 (bi-maxillary). Fee by negotiation, prior approval required, needs a respiratory/ENT prescription after CPAP has been considered. Repair item D985 pays A$355.05.
- Dental spend (L7):
- Local currency: A$13,152.275 million (2023, OECD SHA).
- Headline USD at market rate: US$8,737.9 million (World Bank average rate 1.5052).
- The PPP record (US$9,563.5 million) stays as the secondary value.
- Cross-check: the education.gov.au and dva.gov.au files time out over curl and WebFetch, so
crosscheck.pyreports UNFETCHABLE. They were read in a browser (robots.txt allows/download/and/sites/default/files/). Desk A's 10% sample needs a browser for these.
Sources
- OECD Health Statistics: Healthcare human resources (SDMX API, dataflow DSD_HEALTH_EMP_REAC@DF_REAC) (OECD (data supplied by national authorities, Korea: MOHW))
- Dental Board of Australia / Ahpra 2024/25 data tables (registrants at 30 June 2025) (Ahpra and Dental Board of Australia)
- National, state and territory population, June 2025 (media release) (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS))
- Dental workforce (Oral health and dental care in Australia) (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW))
- World Bank WDI: GDP per capita (current US$), Australia (World Bank)
- OECD Health Statistics: System of Health Accounts (DSD_SHA@DF_SHA), function HC.1.3.2 dental outpatient curative care (OECD (data supplied by AIHW for Australia))
- Accredited Programs List (dental practitioner programs) (Australian Dental Council (ADC))
- Dental Practitioner Supply and Demand Model - Methodology Paper (April 2026) (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing)
- Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits, July 2021 - June 2025, Data cube 2 (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS))
- Occupation profile: Dental Technicians (ANZSCO 411213) (Jobs and Skills Australia)
- What's covered by the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (Services Australia)
- Dental health (topic page) (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing)
- General Treatment Dental (GTD) annual report 2025-26 - Preliminary (privately insured dental treatment) (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing)
- Benjafield AV et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea. Lancet Respir Med 2019 (The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (PMC author manuscript))
- Sleep apnoea and CPAP: what your health insurance actually covers (CHOICE (Australian Consumers' Association))
- Higher Education Statistics 2024, Section 14 - Award course completions (Table 14.19, special interest courses) (Australian Government Department of Education)
- World Bank WDI: Official exchange rate (LCU per US$, period average), Australia (World Bank)
- Fee schedule of dental services for dentists and dental specialists, effective 1 July 2026 (Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA))
- MBS Online downloads: item descriptions file 20261101_MBSONLINE_DESC (Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (MBS Online))
- World Bank WDI: Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL) (World Bank (UN Population Division, national statistics offices and others))
Related briefs
- Dental support workforce shortage across 12 Asia-Pacific and Gulf markets: what the official data shows
- Dentists per 100,000 people on a practising or employed basis: Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Qatar (JP and QA count employed dentists)
- Online and AI booking in dental clinics in 12 Asia-Pacific and Gulf markets: what clinic websites offer, and what holds adoption back
- Online booking platforms for dental clinics in 12 Asia-Pacific and Gulf markets: what is published, and what share of clinics it covers
- Same-day crowns and same-day dentures in 12 Asia-Pacific and Gulf markets: what clinic websites advertise, and what official data shows