Frequently Asked Questions

Dental Advice Network is Australia's independent expert advisory panel for dental professionals. When you face a case you're not certain about, you can submit it and receive a written opinion from a named, recognised expert — to inform your own judgment. DAN also gives members a growing library of educational resources: the Journal Club, Dento-Legal Lessons, Prescription Guidelines, Dental Science Basics, a video library and a case bank of answered queries. It's built for dentists, hygienists, therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists. The decision, and the patient, always remain yours; DAN's role is to put expert thinking in front of you when it counts.

DAN gives members a growing library of educational resources — the Journal Club, Dento-Legal Lessons, Prescription Guidelines, Dental Science Basics, a video library and a case bank of answered queries — to keep expert thinking in front of you between cases. If you've purchased a plan that includes queries, or bought a query pack separately, you can also submit a case through a structured, secure online form: presentation, relevant history, and de-identified records, with photographs or radiographs where useful. It's triaged to the panel member in the relevant field, who returns a written, tailored opinion within a stated turnaround. You then weigh that opinion alongside your own knowledge of the patient and make the call.

Our panel is made up of named, recognised experts in their fields, each providing a written opinion drawn from real clinical experience — the judgment that comes from having done the work, not just read about it. See our About section for the panel and their credentials.

Yes — the service is delivered online and international members are welcome.

Forums can seem convenient, but the advice is often from unverified sources — conflicting or wrong — and the anonymity can invite ridicule, leaving people hesitant to ask what they most need to. DAN is the opposite: a confidential, written exchange with a named expert, tailored to your case. Your toughest cases deserve better than a comment section. You'd also miss the educational resource library that comes with membership.

Click the Join button on our homepage, enter your details, and choose your membership tier. You'll gain immediate access to the resources included in your tier. To submit a case for a written expert opinion, your plan needs to include query tokens, or you can purchase a query pack separately.

Membership cost depends on the tier you choose. There's a free Student tier with access to our foundational learning resources; a paid tier with full content access; and a paid tier that adds query tokens so you can submit cases for a written expert opinion. Additional query tokens are available to members in top-up packs. Our aim is comprehensive expert support for less than the cost of many one-day professional development events.

We welcome all dental professionals — dentists, hygienists, therapists, oral health therapists and dental prosthetists. Students have free access to our foundational learning resources, although they can purchase query packs.

What you receive depends on your tier:

• Student (free): the foundational learning resources — Dental Science Basics, the Journal Club (including the six-part "How to Understand Scientific Literature" series) and written articles.

• Basic: all of the above plus the applied clinical resources — Dento-Legal Lessons, Prescription Guidelines, the video library and the query case bank.

• Essential: everything in Basic, plus query tokens to submit cases for a written expert opinion.

All members can also purchase query packs separately. For less than the cost of many one-day professional development events, you get year-round access to leading experts.

Membership runs for one year and renews automatically. If you don't want it to renew, you can cancel through the member's portal before your next membership period begins. If you cancel partway through a period, no pro-rata refund applies for the current period. Query tokens persist while your membership is active, with a 30-day grace period after lapse. They will be forfeited if membership is not renewed withing 30 days of membership expiry.

Our panel spans eleven areas: Oral Medicine, Paediatric Dentistry, Restorative Dentistry and Prosthodontics, Pain and Anxiety Control, Periodontics, General Medicine, Dental Therapeutics, Special Needs Dentistry, Drug Advice and Pharmacology, Endodontics, and OMF Radiology (Oral and Maxillo-Facial Radiology). You submit a de-identified case in any of these areas and receive a written opinion to inform your management of the patient.

Any member whose plan includes queries, or who has purchased a query pack separately, can submit a query. Log in to our secure platform and submit it through the structured query form, providing the information set out on the query page — presentation, relevant history and de-identified records, with images or radiographs where they help.

Provide only what's necessary for the expert to give an accurate opinion — it varies with the question. All patient details must be de-identified and handled in accordance with Australian privacy law and the Australian Privacy Principles. Don't include information that identifies the patient.

We aim to answer Priority queries within 1–2 days and routine queries within 3–5 days, depending on the complexity of the case and expert availability. These are service targets, not guarantees, and the service isn't intended for urgent or emergency care, although if it is urgent, please advise us and we will do our best to respond ASAP.

No. DAN does not provide medico-legal advice, expert reports or testimony for legal purposes. The service is for clinical opinion to inform your patient care, and is not intended for medico-legal use.