Dental Fees Survey 2022

This article was first published in the ADA's News Bulletin, December 2022

The ADA’s fees survey, undertaken by ACA Research, summarises fees charged by ADA members in private practice as at 1 July 2022. The sample of dentists used for the research comprises ADA members active in private practice. A total of 11,035 dentists were invited to participate. In total, 3,819 valid responses were received, a 6% decrease on the 4,081 valid responses received in 2020.

Most responses were from general practitioners (3,535), with specialists comprising the other 284 responses. The classification of general practitioner or specialist was self-assigned by respondents. The ADA continues to innovate survey methods to enhance the accuracy of results and reduce members’ time investment.

Survey responses this year were assisted by corporate dental groups Abano Healthcare and Praktika, which supplied anonymised data. Further assistance was obtained via practice management software Dental4Windows and PracticeWorks, which enabled de-identified data to be shared automatically by participating practices. These are useful adjuncts to the self-completed surveys, and help provide a more robust and reliable sample because the data is less prone to human error than self-reported data.

General practitioners

Data from 3,535 general practitioners (32% of the ADA members that were invited to participate) is included in the analysis. On average across the 122 items surveyed, fees charged by GPs appear to have increased by 3.7% during the two-year period since 1 July 2020 (Figure 2).

The modest nature of the average increase may reflect competitive business conditions and intent to manage fee increases carefully. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may also play a part.

Fees charged across all service categories increased, with the smallest increases seen in Preventive Services and Periodontics (1.6%), and the largest increase in Orthodontics (6.9%).
 
 

State variation in GP fees

In line with previous survey results, there was considerable variation in the fees charged within and between states.

On average, general practitioners in SA and WA charge the lowest fees, while general practitioners in the ACT and NT charged higher fees relative to other states. Figure 4 displays the proportion of items for which a particular jurisdiction charges the highest or lowest mean fee.

Please note: Items with a base size lower than n=3 have been excluded from this calculation. General practitioners in ACT and NT are reported to have the highest fees. However due to the small sample in these two states, their results should be viewed with caution.

Specialists

Around 10% of active private practice sector dentists who are ADA members are specialists. Of these, 284 members who identified themselves as a specialist are included in these survey results. Given that the response rate to the survey from specialists is low, and lower for certain items than for others, survey results for specialists should be interpreted with considerable caution.

A fifth (20%) of specialists charged an hourly rate, and the mean hourly rate has increased significantly, from $662 in 2020, to $921 in 2022 (a 39% increase). The median hourly rate increased to $800 from $600 in 2020 (a 33% increase). There was wide variation in hourly rates in 2022, ranging between $450 and $1,500 per hour.

Most specialists who responded (86%) provided diagnostic services and around half (54%) provided oral surgery services. 

Conclusion

The Fee Survey empowers the ADA’s advocacy efforts in relation to private health insurance, closing the gap between benefits schedules used for the CDBS and Veterans Affairs dental schemes, and the actual costs of providing treatment under these schemes.

However, the value of the data depends on members completing the survey, so we encourage you to continue participating in future surveys. The ADA will continue to engage with software providers with the aim of reducing manual data entry and increasing the quantity of de-identified fee data for analysis.

Figures 5 and 6 on the following pages summarise the fees charged by GPs and specialists, respectively, by hourly rate and item number. No comparison is made for state variations for specialists because of the smaller specialist sample size.

Full results from the ADA’s annual Dental Fees Survey, carried out in the second half of 2022, are now available to members. Reports from previous years can also be found there for reference and comparison. (If you are not already logged in, you will need your membership and password ready.)

* To view figures 5 & 6, please go to ADA's News Bulletin, December 2022