Who may call themselves a dentist

Five dental titles

The National Law’s table of protected titles gives the dental profession five: “dentist, dental therapist, dental hygienist, dental prosthetist, oral health therapist”. Ahpra’s advertising guidelines list the same five as the divisions of the dental profession.

The Dental Board puts it from the practitioner’s side. Anyone who wants to call themselves, or hold themselves out as, a dentist (including any of the 13 dental specialist titles), a dental prosthetist, a dental hygienist, a dental therapist or an oral health therapist must be registered with the Board. That reaches past the words themselves, to any initial, symbol, word or description that could reasonably be taken to suggest a person is a dental practitioner, or is qualified to practise in the profession.

Employers are covered too. The Board says it is a criminal offence for an employer to use protected titles for staff, or to hold unregistered staff out as dental practitioners.

Sections 113 and 116, word for word

“(1) A person must not knowingly or recklessly”

“(a) take or use a title in the Table to this section, in a way that could be reasonably expected to induce a belief the person is registered under this Law in the health profession listed beside the title in the Table, unless the person is registered in the profession, or

(b) take or use a prescribed title for a health profession, in a way that could be reasonably expected to induce a belief the person is registered under this Law in the profession, unless the person is registered in the profession.”

“(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply whether or not the title is taken or used with or without any other words and whether in English or any other language.”

Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, section 113, a selection: subsections (1) and (3). The National Law has the whole section.

Section 116 is aimed at people who are not registered at all. It reads, in part:

“(1) A person who is not a registered health practitioner must not knowingly or recklessly”

“(b) take or use a title, name, initial, symbol, word or description that, having regard to the circumstances in which it is taken or used, indicates or could be reasonably understood to indicate

(i) the person is a health practitioner; or

(ii) the person is authorised or qualified to practise in a health profession; or”

“(c) claim to be registered under this Law or hold himself or herself out as being registered under this Law; or

(d) claim to be qualified to practise as a health practitioner.”

Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, section 116(1), a selection: paragraph (a) is left out here. The whole section is in the National Law.

Ahpra’s guidelines summarise section 117, which covers false claims about a division as well as a profession: nobody may knowingly or recklessly claim or hold out registration or qualification in a division they are not registered in, or use a title that would lead people to believe it.

Penalties for misusing a title

Ahpra’s page on advertising and the law, as it read on 9 October 2026, says that where an advertising breach involves the unlawful use of a protected title, that is an offence under the National Law as well, and gives these maximum penalties:

• for an individual, a fine of up to $60,000 per offence, up to three years’ imprisonment per offence, or both
• for a body corporate, a fine of up to $120,000 per offence.

Work the Law reserves

Section 121 of the National Law sets out the restricted dental acts and who may carry them out. The Dental Board describes them as including irreversible procedures on the teeth, jaw and associated structures, and advice given to prepare for, or in order to fit or adjust, dentures or restorative dental appliances. In the Board’s summary, which is not the Law’s own wording (section 121 is in the National Law), only these people may carry them out:

• a registered dental or medical practitioner
• a dental or medical student doing the procedure within an approved program of study
• a person doing technical work on the written order of someone registered in the dentists or dental prosthetists division
• a person otherwise authorised to carry out the act under another regulation.

Carrying out a restricted dental act without being registered is, in the words of the Board’s page as it read on 9 October 2026, “a serious criminal offence”, with a fine of up to $60,000, up to three years’ imprisonment, or both.

What each division covers

The Board’s guidelines define dentistry broadly: assessing, preventing, diagnosing, advising on and treating injuries, diseases, deficiencies, deformities or lesions of the teeth, mouth, jaws and the structures around them. A practitioner’s division then sets how much of that they may do.

Within a division, scope also depends on each person’s education, training and competence. A practitioner must refer a patient whose care is outside their own scope.

“Dr” and “dental surgeon”

Ahpra’s guidelines say “Doctor” is not a protected title, but that registered practitioners must be careful how they use “Doctor” or “Dr” in advertising, because the public has long linked the word with medical practitioners. Ahpra’s summary of the advertising requirements adds that an advertisement using it should state the practitioner’s profession when they are not a medical practitioner.

Ahpra says the newer section of the National Law on the title “surgeon” only applies to registered medical practitioners, and does not change the rules for dentists using the title “dental surgeon”.