DBA Statistics Show Dentist Registrations Climb

Issue Summary — 

The Dental Board of Australia (DBA) has released the latest set of dental workforce statistics, which is showing a noticeable increase in the number of registered dental practitioners compared to the September 2014 figures. The bulk of the rise came from the number of dentists registered.

Key Issues For The Dental Industry — 

The national registration and accreditation scheme for health practitioners requires that information about every registered health practitioner in Australia is recorded on a single national register of practitioners. According to latest data released for the quarter ending December 2014, the overall number of dental practitioners in Australia is currently sitting at 21,413 – an increase of over six hundred and fifty from the September 2014 number of 20,749.

The number of registered dentists saw the bulk of the increase, from 15,625 to 16,087. Noticeable increases were also noted in the oral health therapist, dental hygienist and dental prosthetist professions.  The summary table of data is replicated below:

The DBA is responsible for registering dentists, dental students and dental and oral health professionals in Australia. They also help guide the profession by developing standards, codes and guidelines for the dental profession, handling notifications, complaints, investigations and disciplinary hearings, assessing overseas trained practitioners who wish to practise in Australia and approving accreditation standards and accredited courses of study. The DBA regularly analyses its registration data to produce a number of statistical breakdowns about registrants to share with the profession and community on a regular basis.

Source: Australian Dental Industry Association.