Australian Dental Statistics

Your teeth are important, you only get one adult set (if only we were like sharks, regrowing their teeth). Interestingly, statistics show that for various reasons, even though they may need and want to, oral care isn’t always top priority for Australians. Around 30% of Aussies aren’t getting regular dental care due to money, lack of service availability and other barriers.

It’s all about the money. What stops most people from doing things that they want (or even need)? Cash, or a lack of it really. This goes for dental care too. More than 1 in 3 people in Australia aren’t getting dental care because they just can’t afford it.

If you had bad stomach pain, you’d got to the doctor and get it sorted, right? So why is it any different for your teeth? It seems odd but there are plenty of people suffering from dental discomfort or even pain that just choose to soldier on. 9 out of 10 people with serious oral health problems are in pain or discomfort.

Do you give a big toothy grin when you’re having your picture taken? Perhaps you hide your teeth behind a closed smile because you’re embarrassed by them. You’re not alone. Embarrassment, because of teeth, is experienced by 9 out of 10 people. This affects their confidence and decreasing their social interactions and even job prospects.

Nobody likes hospitals. Dental hygiene is more important than most people think. Every year there are 32,000 people hospitalised due to extensive tissue infection. What’s the cause? You guessed it. These all started as a preventable dental disease.

Decay starts early. That’s not a bleak reference to society or anything like that. Half of 12-year old’s have decay in their permanent teeth. By the time they hit 14, 58% of children have permanent decay in their adult teeth. This leads to with 30% of adults aged 25-44 with untreated tooth decay. Why? Well it may be because only 57% of people in that same age bracket have visited a dentist in the last year. Most concerning is that 1 in 5 people over 65 haven’t got any natural teeth left at all.

There’s a Starbucks on every corner. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with dental care. There aren’t as many as you might think. For every 100,000 people, there are only 57 dentists, 4 dental therapists, 5 dental hygienists, 3 oral heath therapists and 5 dental prosthetists. Those numbers are just on average. Depending where you live access may be more limited as well. While New South Wales has 6,580 dental workers Western Australia has 401 and The Northern Territory only has 153.

The stats say it all. There are plenty of people who might need and want dental care, but for one reason or another aren’t getting it. You can help these statistics improve. Contact Shore Dental for your dental care needs.