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Thomas LA, Tibble H, Too LS, Hopcraft MS, Bismark MM. Aust Dent J 2018; 63: 285–293

10% of all complaints made to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) between 2011 and 2016 concerned dental practitioners (general dentists and dental specialists, dental prosthetists, dental hygienists, dental therapists and oral health therapists); yet dental practitioners make only 3.5% of all health care practitioners regulated. The complaint rate for dental practitioners was 42.7 per 1,000. Dentists and dental prosthetists had 5x higher rate of complaints than other dental professionals. 706 dentists (4%) were the subject of more than one complaint to AHPRA and accounted for 2107 (49%) of complaints about dentists.

The majority of complaints were made by patients (or their relatives). 6% were made by other practitioners. Most complaints concerned performance issues (eg diagnosis and treatment), whilst 25% concerned conduct (dishonesty, infection control and crossing sexual boundaries) and 2% concerned health issues (substance misuse, mental health etc).

Sixty percent of complaints resulted in no further action against the practitioner. Median time for resolution of all complaints was 120 days. The importance of appropriate triage and swift resolution of complaints is emphasized.