ADOHTA SA/NT Branch | Australian Dental & Oral Health Therapists Association SA/NT Branch

Welcome to the official website of the Australian Dental & Oral Health Therapists' Association SA/NT Branch.

This website acts not only as an information porthole and meeting place for dental therapists and oral health therapists but also as a place where members of the public can access information related specifically to the profession of dental therapy.

Since our inception in the late 1960's dental and oral health therapists have strived to provide quality primary dental care and advice for families across broad social and cultural demographics.

Better known as the 'school dental therapists' we have traditionally served children and young adults from families on low to middle incomes, but in recent times have seen our roles expand and now provide clinical services to dependants of families across all income and social spectrums in both the public and private sector. We provide care for those in the Adelaide and Darwin metropolitan areas as well as a wide variety of regional centres, rural communities and some of the most remote populations from Ceduna to Katherine.

We routinely provide support and oral care for those children and families who would otherwise have difficulty in accessing oral care: including children with special needs, children under the guardianship of the minister and indigenous children. We specialise in assisting children through tough times with dental diseases and dental anxieties, adopting a minimal intervention philosophy and a primary care preventive approach.

"Conceptually, pediatric dentistry and public health dentistry share a unique niche within the spectrum
of dental disciplines. They are the only two recognised specialties of dentistry that are essentially holisic
in nature. Unlike other recognised areas of dental specialisation that attend to a particular tissue (sic),
or a set of clinical techniques (sic), both pediatric dentistry and public health are defined by those they serve - children in the case of pediatric dentistry and entire populations in case of public health dentistry. For this reason, the required knowledge and skill sets needed to well manage target population's oral health are broad."

Yoder & Edelstein cited in McDonald & Avery, 2001, Dentistry for the child and Adolescent, Elsevier, Missouri, USA

Dental and oral health therapists care about the health and well being of all South Australians and Northern Territorians and we hope to see you in one of our clinic's soon.

Proudly supported by our industry partners