How long to keep dental records in Australia
The retention rules by state, the safe defaults for adults and children, and what to do about old records when a practice changes hands.
Applies to: Australian practices
In Australia, keep adult dental records for at least seven years after the patient’s last visit. For children, keep records until the patient turns 25. These are the statutory rules in New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT, and the widely recommended benchmark everywhere else.
The rules at a glance
| Where | Adults | Children |
|---|---|---|
| NSW, Victoria, ACT (statutory) | 7 years from the last entry | Until the patient turns 25 |
| Other states and territories | No dental-specific statute; 7 years is the recommended benchmark | Until age 25 is the recommended benchmark |
Indemnity providers often suggest keeping records longer than the minimum where storage allows, because a record you destroyed is a defence you no longer have. Dental Protection’s guidance is a good example of the conservative view, and the Dental Board’s guidelines are the baseline every practitioner is held to.
When does the clock start?
From the last entry in the record, not the first. Every new visit resets the seven years. For a child, the age rule usually runs longer than the seven-year rule, so it is the one that binds: a record for an eight-year-old must survive another seventeen years.
What counts as “the record”?
- Clinical notes for every visit.
- Radiographs and photographs.
- Referral letters in both directions, lab dockets, and prescriptions.
- Consent documentation, treatment plans, and quotes.
- Correspondence about the patient’s care, whatever the channel.
Common situations
The practice is sold or closes
Records must remain accessible for the full retention period. In a sale, agree in writing who becomes custodian. On closure, patients should be told how to obtain their records.
The patient asks for their records
Patients have a right of access to their health information under the Privacy Act. You can provide a copy or a summary and may charge a reasonable fee for it, but you cannot refuse simply because they owe money or are leaving the practice.
Digital records
The retention period is the same, and “kept” means retrievable, not merely stored: backups you can restore and formats you can still open. If your notes live in software, know how you would export them, and check where the data is hosted; our checklist on whether AI dental note software is secure covers the questions to ask.
Chairscribe helps with the half you write every day: an AI dental scribe that drafts a complete, contemporaneous note from the appointment itself, encrypted and hosted in Australia. Start scribing.