Everyone should have the chance to have a healthy mouth as part of their overall health. Dental services to the community should be provided through an integrated system of private and public practices, with dentists leading the dental team. Oral health promotion, dental workforce training and research should be adequately funded by government.
Community Oral Health Promotion
2.1. The following areas are identified as essential to improve the oral health of the community.
2.2. Governments should address the social determinants of health.
2.3. Oral diseases should be prioritised as a critical public health concern due to their significant
global impact and shared risk factors with other noncommunicable diseases.
Delivery of Oral Health Care
2.4. Dentistry is an essential health service, and every individual should have access.
2.5. The dentist, by providing a full spectrum of care, is the primary provider of dental services to the
community. Dentist-based systems of care and delivery must be accorded top priority.
2.6. The provision of dental services to the community should be based on a mixture of private and
public practice where patients should be able to choose their provider.
2.7. Public health dentistry should identify and target at risk groups such as children, adolescents,
older people, disabled people, those living in regional and remote areas, those, from culturally
and linguistically diverse backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the
prevention of oral disease.
2.8. Federal and State funding must be expanded for oral health services for disadvantaged and
vulnerable populations.
2.9. A dedicated oral health division led by a dentist within the Commonwealth Department of Health is
essential to providing expert guidance to the Federal Government. A team dedicated to oral health is
required within the Commonwealth Department of Health to ensure appropriate advice is given to
the Federal Government. This team should be led by a dentist.
Research
2.10. It is imperative that the Federal Government conducts regular national oral health surveys.
2.11. There should be continuing research into the causes and control of dental diseases.
2.12. Government funding should support dental research adequately.
2.13. Dental research should receive additional support and funding from the dental profession and the
community.
2.14. Where dental research is funded by a commercial body, such funding must be disclosed at all
times.
Workforce Training
2.15. Universities that provide dental education and training and continuing professional development
activities for graduates should be funded adequately.
2.16. State and Territory Governments have a responsibility to allow dental workforce students to
acquire clinical skills in workplaces providing public dental care. This is a fundamental
contribution of State and Territory Governments to national oral health.
2.17. Education and training must match the oral health needs of the community.
2.18. Australia must be largely self-sufficient with regard to the education and training of its dental
workforce and Federal, State and Territory Governments must ensure adequate funding to
achieve this situation.
3.1. Good oral health is a fundamental human right, essential for overall health and well-being.
3.2. The World Health Organisation’s Global action plan1 calls for interventions to improve access to
essential oral healthcare services and reduction in the burden of oral diseases by 2030.
3.3. Oral diseases are major global health burdens and share common risk factors with other
noncommunicable diseases.
3.4. The Oral Health Messages for the Australian Public were first produced in 2009 and sought to
enable a focused, and strategic approach to oral health promotion in Australia. The most recent
consensus statement2 acknowledges the need for alignment of messaging with other health
professional organisations.
3.5. Dental services to the community are provided through a mix of private and public practices.
Dentists in public services are referred to as dental officers, similarly to medical doctors who are
referred to as medical officers.
3.6. There is growing evidence of the association between oral and systemic disease. Thus, oral
health whilst important in its own right, is an integral part of general health.
3.7. Social determinants of health have an impact on national oral health outcomes.
3.8. National Oral Health involves:
4.1. BOARD is the Dental Board of Australia.
4.2. DENTAL PRACTITIONER is a person registered by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation
Agency via the Board to provide dental care.
4.3. A DENTAL TEAM comprises a mix of dentists and other registered dental practitioners and
support staff and must at all times be headed by a dentist who is responsible for the diagnosis,
treatment planning, delivery of dental procedures and continuing evaluation of the oral health of
the patient. The dentist supports and directs the other members of the dental team working
directly with them.
4.4. A DENTIST is an appropriately qualified dental practitioner, registered by the Board to practise all
areas of dentistry.
4.5. DENTISTRY is defined as the evaluation, diagnosis, prevention and/or treatment (nonsurgical,
surgical, or reversible and irreversible procedures) of diseases, disorders, irregularities or
conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and/or the adjacent and associated structures and
their impact on the human body.
4.6. HEALTH is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the
absence of disease or infirmity (WHO Constitution).
4.7. HEALTH PROMOTION is the process of enabling individuals and communities to increase
control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health.
4.8. NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES are those that are not transmitted through direct or
indirect contact with an infected or afflicted person.
4.9. ORAL HEALTH is multi-faceted and includes, but is not limited to, the ability to speak, smile,
smell, taste, touch, chew, swallow and convey a range of emotions through facial expressions
with confidence and free from pain or discomfort, and disease of the craniofacial complex. [FDI
new definition]
4.10. SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live,
work and age and are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global,
national and local levels.
June 2025
June 2030
This Policy Statement is linked to Policy Statement 2.10 Oral Health & the Social Determinants of Health
