Industry Overview – Dental

This site (weblink provided below) provides employment and training information and data on various sub-sectors within the Dental industry.

The primary purpose of the Dental Services sector is to provide general or specialised dentistry services to improve oral health across the country. The dental workforce consists of both registered and non-registered health care professionals, and job roles can involve undertaking a wide range of functions, including administration and assistance, operational (i.e. technician and specialist) and/or supervisory, and management activities.

The Dental Services Training Package is specifically focused on the skills training for primarily non-registered job roles such as Dental Assistants, Dental Technicians and Dental Laboratory Assistants.

While dental services are delivered by both private and public providers, the industry is primarily made up of small, independent private dental practices. Their locations are heavily distributed towards metropolitan areas, with regional and rural communities generally under-represented. There are approximately 15,000 dental service businesses across Australia (as at June 2018).

The Dental Assistant workforce is expected to experience moderate job growth over the next few years to reach a total number of 36,400 by 2025. Dental Hygienist, Technician and Therapist roles are projected to experience incremental growth to reach a total of 8,900 by 2025.

The Dental Industry Reference Committee (IRC) is responsible for nationally recognised dental qualifications, packaged within the HLT – Health Training Package.