Dental Practice Board of Victoria

Looking for a dental care provider?

The Dental Practice Board regulates the provision of dental health care in Victoria. If you are looking for a dentist, dental prosthetist, dental hygienist or dental therapist, you can search for a registered practitioner by name or location.

The Board advises you to read advertisements carefully before choosing a dental care provider.
Keep the following points in mind:
• Beware of exaggerated predictions about treatment. Ask for proof of the claims that are being made.
• Read the small print. A practitioner offering a discount or other inducement must, by law, set out the terms and conditions of that offer.
• A person whose photograph appears in the advertisement may be a model, not a patient of that practitioner.
• Before and after photographs can be manipulated to exaggerate the effects of treatment.
• Be cautious about phrases like “No needle” “No pain” or “No drill”. Such “techniques” do exist, but are only suitable for a minority of patients.
• Be cautious about claims of advanced training in “Cosmetic Dentistry”.
There’s more on advertising on the Information page.

If you have concerns that a practitioner has not acted in a professional manner, you can ask the Board to investigate the matter.
The types of issues about which complaints can be made include, for example:
• misleading advertising;
• poor infection control practices;
• lack of consent to a procedure;
• poor quality of work;
• financial deception;
• inappropriate treatment etc.

For details of findings that have been made against individual practitioners see Decisions.

Peter Gardner
Chief Executive Officer