Oral Health Therapist or Dental Therapist

An Oral Health Therapist or Dental Therapist delivers preventive and therapeutic oral health care to patients in dental clinics, schools, and community health settings across Australia. Working under the supervision or referral of a dentist, they perform clinical procedures including scaling, polishing, fluoride application, and temporary restorations, whilst providing patient education on oral hygiene and disease prevention. They maintain detailed patient records, sterilise instruments, and ensure compliance with infection control standards and AHPRA registration requirements.

Perform supragingival and subgingival scaling and root planing using hand instruments and ultrasonic scalers to remove calculus and plaque. Apply fluoride treatments, sealants, and desensitising agents to teeth following clinical protocols and patient assessment. Place temporary and intermediate restorations such as zinc oxide eugenol or glass ionomer cements under dentist direction. Administer local anaesthetic under appropriate delegation and in accordance with state-based legislation governing scope of practice. Assess patient oral health status, document clinical findings, and communicate treatment recommendations to supervising dentist. Educate patients on oral hygiene techniques, dietary factors affecting dental health, and preventive strategies tailored to individual risk profiles. Obtain and process radiographs (intraoral and extraoral) in compliance with Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency standards. Sterilise, disinfect, and maintain dental instruments and equipment according to Australian Standards AS/NZS 4815 and infection control protocols.

The standard entry pathway requires a bachelor degree or higher (ABS Skill Level 1). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.

You'll need a Bachelor degree and AHPRA registration before you can work, which takes 3 years of study. You'll also work under dentist supervision, not independently, so your clinical decision-making is limited. Pay won't match dentists and caps out lower. Repetitive hand and wrist strain from scaling is real and cumulative.

Jobs concentrate in metro areas where dental clinics are densest. Rural and remote Australia has fewer positions. School-based and public health roles exist but are limited. Most work is in private dental practices in cities and regional centres, not remote areas.

Published for ANZSCO unit group 4112, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.

This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

• Accept own accountabilitycore
• Active Listeningcore
• Appointment Schedulingcore
• Attention to Detailcore
• Case Note Documentationcore
• Confidentiality and Privacy Compliancecore
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligencecore
• Health Record Administrationcore
• Health Terminology Literacycore
• HICAPS and Medicare Claiming Systemscore
• Medicare and DVA Billingcore
• Policy and Procedure Adherencecore
• Practice Management Software (e.g., Best Practice, MedicalDirector)core
• Time Management and Prioritisationcore
• Verbal Communicationcore
• Administer appointments
• Continuous Learning and Upskilling
• Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
• Incident Reporting
• Referral Coordination
• Regulatory and Legislative Awareness
• Risk Identification
• Service Navigation and Referral
• Team Collaboration
• Written Communication

• ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
• ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
• ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.

Where our numbers come from.

Last updated: 30 October 2026