Waiting time for dental services
Public dental services are provided through the Royal Dental Hospital Melbourne (RDHM) and more than 40 integrated and registered community health services and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations across Victoria.
Waiting lists are used for clients who require routine dental care only. Those assessed as needing emergency care or priority clients (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, pregnant women and refugees and asylum seekers e) are offered the next available appointment and are not placed on a wait list. In 2024-25, emergency and priority patients were approximately 76% of all public dental patients.
Waiting time is the time between the date the client was placed on the waiting list, and the date the first appointment was offered by the service.
Tap the buttons below for specific data about waiting time for dental services, including statewide averages for general, denture and specialist appointments.
Scroll down for more information about the data (measures).
About the data:
The above measures look at the average number of months clients have waited to be offered:
- General dental care (e.g. routine examinations, cleaning, extractions)
- Denture care
- Priority denture care
- Dental specialist appointment (prosthodontics, endodontic and orthodontic)
- Other specialist dental services (e.g. clients with special needs, oral surgery, oral medicine, periodontics and paedodontics).
Notes
- Data source: Oral Health Victoria. Data received 13 April 2026.
- Waiting time for dental specialists applies to the Royal Dental Hospital Melbourne only.
- * No results are available.