The National Study of Adult Oral Health (NSAOH) is Australia’s third national oral examination survey of a representative sample of Australian adults. The study was undertaken primarily to describe levels of oral health in the population and to describe trends since the first survey, conducted in 1987–88. The aim of the study was to complete 7,200 examinations, necessitating approximately 15,200 completed interviews. Survey participants were selected using a multi‐stage probability sampling design that began with the sampling of postcodes within states/territories in Australia. Individuals within selected postcodes were then selected by the Australian Government Department of Human Services (DHS) from the Medicare database. Following an initial opt‐out period, participants were given the option to either complete the questionnaire online or to complete the questionnaire via a computer‐assisted telephone interview. Participants were asked a series of questions about their oral health and dental service use and those who reported having one or more of their own natural teeth were invited to undergo a standardised oral examination. Examinations were conducted by state/territory dental practitioners who underwent prior training and calibration in survey procedures by the Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH), The University of Adelaide.

ResultsWhere attention was drawn to differences by cardholder status and geographic region, the results were statistically significant at the 5 per cent level unless indicated otherwise. Dentate statusThe cumulative effects of dental decay and treatment practices are reflected in tooth loss. The percentage of adults aged 45 years and over who have lost all their natural teeth (i.e., are edentulous) is presented in Fig 1. Cardholders aged 45-59 years were four times as likely to be edentulous (16 per cent) as non-cardholders (4 per cent) this age. Complete tooth loss increased sharply across age with 35 per cent of cardholders and 20 per cent of noncardholders aged 60 years and over reporting they were edentulous. There were no regional differences in the prevalence of complete tooth loss for adults aged 45-59 years (6-7 per cent). Although rural dwellers aged 60 years and over reported higher rates of edentulism (35 per cent) than urban (29 per cent) and remote (27 per cent) dwellers this age, these differences were not significant.

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Background: Indigenous children experience significantly more dental caries than non-Indigenous children. This study assessed if access to fluoride in the water closed the gap in dental caries between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. Methods: Data from four states and two territories were sourced from the Child Dental Health Survey (CDHS) conducted in 2010. The outcomes were dental caries in the deciduous and permanent dentitions, and the explanatory variables were Indigenous status and access to fluoridated water (≥0.5 mg/L) prior to 2008. Results: Dental caries prevalence and severity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, in both dentitions, was lower in fluoridated areas compared to non-fluoridated areas. Among non-Indigenous children, there was a 50.9% difference in mean dmft scores in fluoridated (1.70) compared to non-fluoridated (2.86) areas. The difference between Indigenous children in fluoridated (3.29) compared to non-fluoridated (4.16) areas was 23.4%. Among non-Indigenous children there was a 79.7% difference in the mean DMFT scores in fluoridated (0.68) compared to non-fluoridated (1.58) areas. The difference between Indigenous children in fluoridated (1.59) and non-fluoridated (2.23) areas was 33.5%. Conclusions: Water fluoridation is effective in reducing dental caries, but does not appear to close the gap between nonIndigenous children and Indigenous children.

The National Study of Adult Oral Health (NSAOH) 2017–18 collected information from a sample of the Australian population aged 15 years and over. The Study comprised an interview questionnaire, completed by telephone or online, and an oral epidemiological examination among dentate participants. Participation in the Study was voluntary and therefore relied on the goodwill of selected participants. This paper provides a summary of participation rates for the Interview and Examination phases of the study. The potential for biased population estimates due to variation in participation rates is explored. The weighting procedure implemented to ensure the sample is representative of the target population is described and a comparison of the estimated population distributions derived from the weighted sample and the actual population distributions is provided for a range of socioeconomic characteristics. In summary, it can be concluded that estimates derived from the weighted Interview and Examination samples are valid estimates of the Australian population aged 15 years and over.