Further Enquiries

Oral Health Promotion Clearinghouse
Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health
School of Dentistry
THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE
SA 5005
AUSTRALIA

Email: ohpch@adelaide.edu.au

Telephone: +61 8 8313 4045

Fax: +61 8 8313 4858

Fluoride Map

Water fluoridation map of Australia

(updated to 2008)

In all States and Territories, other than the Northern Territory:
“Optimally Fluoridated” = The level is more than 0.7 ppm.
“Suboptimal Fluoridated” = The level is between 0.3 and 0.7 ppm. Please seek advice from your dental advisor.
“Not Fluoridated” = The level is less than 0.3 ppm.

In the Northern Territory water is “Optimally Fluoridated” if the level is more than 0.6 ppm.

You can check the water fluoridation level against your postcode by clicking on the State or Territory where you live .

Please note that these data are as accurate and up to date as possible given the mapping processes which use different geographical structures on which the water fluoridation information is based. For example only part of one post code may be fluoridated or information may have been supplied at a regional level which has then be allotted as closely as possible to postcodes. We welcome any corrections from viewers and will keep the data updated frequently.

What does ppm mean?

This is an abbreviation for "parts per million" and it also can be expressed as milligrams per liter (mg/L). This measurement is the mass of a chemical or contaminate per unit volume of water. Seeing ppm or mg/L on a lab report means the same thing.

One ppm is equivalent to the absolute fractional amount multiplied by one million. A better way to think of ppm is to visualize putting four drops of ink in a 55-gallon barrel of water and mixing it thoroughly. This procedure would produce an ink concentration of 1 ppm. Some other analogies that may help you visualize the scale involved with ppm. One ppm is like:

one inch in 16 miles,
one second in 11.5 days,
one minute in two years.

An even smaller concentration measurement is parts per billion (ppb). One ppb is one part in 1 billion. Because a ppb is a much lower concentration, some analogies would be :

one sheet in a roll of toilet paper stretching from New York to London,
one second in nearly 32 years, or
one pinch of salt in 10 tons of potato chips.