20+ verified statistics on the Australian dental industry: registered dentists, market size, visit rates, out-of-pocket costs, extras cover and how patients choose a practice online.
How many dentists are there in Australia? How many Australians actually visit one each year, and how do new patients decide which practice to call? This page pulls together the most reliable, current statistics on the Australian dental industry in one place, drawn from government and registry sources such as the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), plus verified industry and consumer research.
Every figure below is linked to its original source with the reference year, so you can check it, cite it and reuse it. If you run a dental practice, the second half of this post is where it gets practical: the data on cost barriers, patient choice and online research explains a great deal about where new patients come from in 2026.
Key statistics at a glance
The top 10 numbers that define Australian dentistry right now:
- 19,499 dentists were registered in Australia in 2023, part of a total dental workforce of around 27,100 registered dental practitioners (AIHW, 2023).
- Australia's dental services market is worth an estimated $14.5 billion in 2025, up 4.3% year on year (IBISWorld, 2025).
- There are around 20,919 dental services businesses in Australia (IBISWorld, 2026).
- $12.5 billion was spent on dental services nationally in 2022-23, up from $9.8 billion in 2012-13 (AIHW, 2022-23).
- 53.9% of Australians aged 15 and over saw a dental professional in the last 12 months (ABS Patient Experiences, 2024-25).
- 25.2% of people who needed dental care delayed it or went without at least once in the year (ABS, 2024-25).
- Individuals directly funded 61% of total dental expenditure out of their own pockets in 2022-23 (AIHW).
- 15.3 million Australians (55.2% of the population) held general treatment (extras) cover at 30 September 2025 (APRA, 2025).
- 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 71% use Google to evaluate them (BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026).
- An estimated 7% of all daily Google searches are health related, roughly 70,000 health searches every minute (Google Health, reported by Becker's, 2019).
How big is the Australian dental industry?
Dentistry in Australia is a large, fragmented and steadily growing sector.
- In 2023 there were 19,499 registered dentists in Australia, and about 27,100 registered dental practitioners in total once dental prosthetists, dental hygienists, oral health therapists and dental therapists are counted, based on Dental Board of Australia registration data reported by the AIHW (2023).
- The full-time equivalent (FTE) rate was 61.1 dentists per 100,000 population in 2023, a slight dip from 62.0 in 2022 (AIHW, 2023). The ACT had the highest FTE rate of dentists at 68.7 per 100,000 (AIHW, 2023).
- The dental services market was valued at $13.9 billion in 2024 and an estimated $14.5 billion in 2025, growth of 4.3% (IBISWorld, 2025).
- There are roughly 20,919 businesses in the dental services industry, with business numbers growing at a 3.7% compound annual rate between 2021 and 2026 (IBISWorld, 2026).
- Market share concentration is low. Even the largest operator, Bupa, holds only a small slice of the market (IBISWorld, 2026).
The takeaway for practice owners: this is a growing market, but an intensely local and competitive one. With more than 20,000 businesses and no dominant national brand, the practices that win are the ones that are easiest for nearby patients to find and trust.
Patient behaviour: how often Australians visit the dentist
The ABS Patient Experience Survey is the best national read on how Australians actually use dental care.
- 53.9% of people aged 15 and over saw a dental professional in the previous 12 months in 2024-25, similar to 53.2% in 2023-24 (ABS, 2024-25). Put simply, nearly half of Australian adults did not see a dentist at all last year.
- Access is heavily skewed by income and location. In 2023-24, 64.7% of people in the least disadvantaged areas saw a dental professional, compared with just 40.6% in the most disadvantaged areas (ABS, 2023-24).
- 25.2% of people who needed to see a dental professional delayed the visit or did not go at least once in 2024-25, down from 28.0% the year before (ABS, 2024-25).
- Young adults are the most likely to put dental care off: 33.0% of 25 to 34 year olds delayed or skipped needed dental care, versus 9.3% of those aged 85 and over (ABS, 2024-25).
- Delayed care has real consequences. There were about 88,600 potentially preventable hospitalisations for dental conditions in 2023-24 (AIHW, 2023-24).
For practices, the striking pattern is the 25 to 34 age group: they are the most likely to delay care and also the group most reliant on online research when they finally do book. Reactivation and recall campaigns aimed at lapsed younger patients have an unusually large pool to work with.
Costs and dental cover
Cost is the single biggest brake on dental demand in Australia, because dentistry sits largely outside Medicare.
- Total spending on dental services reached $12.5 billion in 2022-23, up from $9.8 billion a decade earlier (AIHW, 2022-23).
- Individuals paid 61% of total dental expenditure directly out of pocket in 2022-23, a far higher share than for most other areas of health care (AIHW, 2022-23).
- For a preventive dental clean in 2021-22, the median charge was $61, the median insurance benefit $40 and the median gap $19 per service item (AIHW, 2021-22).
- 16.1% of people delayed or did not see a dental professional due to cost in 2024-25, an improvement on 17.6% in 2023-24 (ABS, 2024-25).
- Cost barriers start young: about 1 in 5 children aged 5 to 17 (20%) experienced at least one financial barrier or hardship associated with dental care (AIHW).
- On the insurance side, 15,316,909 people, or 55.2% of the Australian population, held some form of general treatment (extras) cover at 30 September 2025 (APRA, 2025).
- Dental is the largest component of extras benefits: insurers paid $947.9 million for dental services in the September 2025 quarter alone (APRA, 2025).
Because patients carry so much of the cost themselves, they behave like considered buyers, not passive referrals. They compare, they read, and they look for reasons to trust a practice before committing. That is exactly where the next set of statistics comes in.
How patients choose a dentist
There is limited Australia-only survey data on dentist selection specifically, so this section sticks to large, verified consumer research on how people choose local service businesses, including healthcare providers.
- 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and 41% now consistently "review-shop" before choosing, up from 29% a year earlier (BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey, 2026).
- Google is the leading platform for reading reviews, used by 71% of consumers when evaluating local businesses (BrightLocal, 2026).
- Rating thresholds are rising fast: 68% of consumers require a minimum 4-star rating, and 31% will only consider businesses rated 4.5 stars or higher, nearly double the 17% recorded the previous year (BrightLocal, 2026).
- 49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from people they know (BrightLocal, 2026).
- AI has entered the picture: 45% of consumers now use AI tools such as ChatGPT to discover local businesses, making AI assistants the third most-used discovery channel behind Google and Facebook (BrightLocal, 2026).
For a dental practice, these numbers translate into a simple reality. Your Google Business Profile rating, your review volume and recency, and how your practice is described across the web are now part of your clinical reputation, whether you manage them or not.
The digital opportunity for dental practices
Put the patient data and the consumer data side by side and the opportunity is obvious.
- An estimated 7% of all daily Google searches are health related, which Google Health quantified at around 70,000 health searches every minute (reported by Becker's Hospital Review, 2019).
- Nearly half of Australian adults (46.1%) did not see a dental professional last year (ABS, 2024-25), yet the market is still growing at 4.3% a year (IBISWorld, 2025). Growth is going to the practices that capture demand when it surfaces.
- With more than 20,000 competing dental businesses (IBISWorld, 2026) and 97% of consumers reading reviews (BrightLocal, 2026), local search visibility is the deciding factor between two clinically identical practices in the same suburb.
- The rise of AI-driven discovery (45% of consumers, per BrightLocal, 2026) means practices also need content that AI assistants can read, verify and cite, which is the core of answer engine optimisation (AEO).
If you want to act on this data, our complete guide to SEO for dentists walks through the playbook step by step, and our dental industry page explains how we apply it for Australian practices. For the broader discipline, browse our SEO category.
Methodology and sources
All statistics on this page were compiled in 2026 from the following publicly available sources, each linked inline where the figure appears:
- AIHW, Oral health and dental care in Australia: national expenditure, workforce (based on Dental Board of Australia/Ahpra registration data), cost and hospitalisation figures. Reference years 2021-22 to 2023-24 as noted per statistic.
- ABS Patient Experiences survey: dental visit rates, delay and cost-barrier figures for 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- APRA quarterly private health insurance statistics: extras cover and dental benefits paid, at 30 September 2025.
- IBISWorld, Dental Services in Australia: market size and business counts, 2024 to 2026 estimates from public industry summaries.
- BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey (2026 edition): consumer review and local search behaviour. This is an international consumer survey, not Australia-specific, and is labelled accordingly above.
Where survey periods differ (for example, financial year versus calendar year), the reference period is stated next to each figure. Government and registry sources were preferred throughout; statistics that could not be traced to a verifiable primary or established survey source were excluded.
Frequently asked questions
How many dentists are there in Australia?
There were 19,499 registered dentists in Australia in 2023, within a total registered dental workforce of around 27,100 practitioners including hygienists, oral health therapists, dental therapists and prosthetists (AIHW, 2023).
How big is the Australian dental industry?
The dental services market is estimated at $14.5 billion in 2025 (IBISWorld), while the AIHW puts total national spending on dental services at $12.5 billion in 2022-23 (AIHW). The two figures use different methods and reference years, which is why both are cited.
What percentage of Australians go to the dentist each year?
53.9% of Australians aged 15 and over saw a dental professional in the 12 months to 2024-25 (ABS). Visit rates are much higher in advantaged areas than disadvantaged ones.
Is cost really the main reason people avoid the dentist?
It is the biggest single reported barrier. In 2024-25, 16.1% of people who needed dental care delayed it or went without because of cost (ABS), and individuals fund 61% of all dental expenditure out of pocket (AIHW, 2022-23).
Do online reviews actually influence dental patients?
The verified consumer research says yes: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, 71% use Google to do it, and 68% require at least a 4-star rating before they will consider a business (BrightLocal, 2026).
Cite these statistics
You are welcome to reference any statistic on this page in your own articles, reports or presentations. Please credit Orkkid with a link to this page (https://orkkid.com/blog/australian-dental-industry-statistics) as the compilation source, and cite the original data owner (AIHW, ABS, APRA, IBISWorld or BrightLocal) for the underlying figure. We update this page as new government and industry data is released.
If you would like help turning statistics like these into patients, see how we work with Australian dental practices.