Opening a dental practice in Gungahlin?
Contested — 14 practices for 99,198 people within 5 km.
Gungahlin has 48% fewer dental practices per head than Australia as a whole: 1.41 per 10,000 people against 2.7 nationally, in a population that has grown 11.1% since 2019.
· re-read monthly while people keep opening it · run it live
Gungahlin's dental field is as established as they come: 14 practices inside 5 km, 7 of them with more than a hundred reviews, 1 chain-backed. That is 1.41 practices for every 10,000 of the 99,200 people in range, fewer than the national 2.7, in a population growing quickly, up 11.1% since 2019. 38.6% of households speak a language other than English at home, nearly 1.7 times the national share; a practitioner who speaks the local languages has an edge no listing here mentions.
- 14Practices in range5 km circle
- 99,198People in rangeABS 2025
- 1.41Per 10,000 peopleAustralia 2.7
- +11.1%Population since 2019+1.1% last year
- 33.6Median age
Who is already there
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Franklin Bright Smiles (Canberra)5.0 from 1,598 reviews · franklinbrightsmiles.com.au · 2.0 km
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Pacific Smiles Dental Gungahlin4.5 from 162 reviews · pacificsmilesdental.com.au · 0.6 km
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Northside Family Dental4.6 from 278 reviews · northsidefamilydental.com.au · 0.5 km
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Signature Smiles Dental4.9 from 113 reviews · signaturesmilesdental.com.au · 0.4 km
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Canberry Dental4.8 from 59 reviews · canberrydental.com.au · 0.5 km
Where patients come from
- 17 schools inside the circle. Families choose a dentist near the school run. Largest: Burgmann Anglican School Valley Campus, Burgmann Anglican School Forde Campus, Good Shepherd Catholic Primary School.
- 11 pharmacies inside the circle. The other health stop families already make in the suburb. Largest: Chemist Warehouse Gungahlin Marketplace, Priceline Pharmacy Amaroo, Cincotta Discount Chemist Mitchell.
What this means if you are opening here
The opening: 1 practice has no website, which means it is invisible to anyone searching outside Google Maps; the catchment has fewer dental practices per head than Australia as a whole, so it could carry more; the population has grown 11.1% in 6 years, and growth arrives before the practices to serve it do.
The headwind: 11 practices are already marketing properly, so search visibility has to be bought or earned slowly; 1 is chain-backed, which means a corporate marketing budget rather than an owner's.
The number to plan against: Franklin Bright Smiles (Canberra) has 1,598 reviews at 5.0. At a typical one review per twelve patient visits, matching that takes roughly 20,000 visits. That is the size of the head start, in a catchment where each practice sees about 3,830 dental patients a year.
All the numbers for Gungahlin
| People in range | 99,198ABS estimated resident population 2025 |
|---|---|
| Population change | +11.1% over 6 years+1.1% in the last year |
| Dental practices per 10,000 people | 1.41Australia: 2.7 |
| People who see a dentist in a year | about 53,600roughly 3,830 per practice; about 2,000 nationally |
| Median age | 33.6 |
| Median household income | $2,617 a weekCensus 2021 |
| Speak a language other than English at home | 38.6%Australia: 22.3% |
| Born overseas | 37.6%Australia: 27.7% |
| Arthritis | 5.3%Australia: 8.5% |
| Asthma | 8%Australia: 8.1% |
| Diabetes | 3.6%Australia: 4.7% |
| Heart disease | 2%Australia: 3.9% |
| Lung condition | 0.8%Australia: 1.7% |
| Mental health condition | 8.4%Australia: 8.8% |
| Practices with no website | 1 |
| Practices marketing properly | 11a website plus 25 or more reviews |
| Median reviews per practice | 106 |
Where the numbers come from
- Google Places API, text search. The practice census, ratings, review counts, websites. Capped at 20 per search; dense circles are searched in tiles.
- Google Places API, result order for the discipline search from the suburb centre. Which practices Google lists first for this search. Google's relevance order from the centre of the circle, not a live local pack, which depends on where the searcher stands.
- ABS Regional population (estimated resident population by SA2), 2019 to 2025. People in range, population growth.
- ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021, tables G01 (age, language, birthplace), G02 (medians) and G19 (long-term health conditions), by SA2. Age profile, language, income, health conditions. National comparisons are the Australia row of the same tables.
- ABS Australian Statistical Geography Standard 2021 (SA1 and SA2 boundaries). Which areas fall inside the circle; SA1s hold about 400 people each, which is how partial areas are weighted.
- Dental Board of Australia registrant data (about 18,500 dentists) and IBISWorld Dental Services business counts. Dental practices per 10,000, derived: registered dentists over an assumed 2.5 dentists per location. IBISWorld's 20,900 'businesses' include contractors and sole traders and overstate locations.
- ABS Patient Experiences, 2024-25: 83.4% saw a GP, 53.9% saw a dental professional in the last 12 months. Annual use rates for GP and dental.
Practice listings, ratings and review counts are Powered by Google and are at most 30 days old. Benchmarks marked derived or estimated are indicative planning figures, not survey results. Google lists at most twenty places per search; dense catchments are searched in tiles and the count is a floor.