First Nations cultural safety will be given priority under a new plan to overhaul Australia's dental care curriculum.

Led by University of Melbourne dental school professor Julie Satur, the new plan will ensure graduate dentists have the appropriate skills to provide culturally safe oral health care and encourage more Indigenous students into the system.

Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health Indigenous health leadership coordinator Josh Cubillo said the new curriculum would challenge students to identify bias, assumptions and racism.

"Cultural safety is a spirit of practice taking into account Indigenous peoples' strong connections to Country," he said.

"Cultural safety leads to cultural respect and a feeling of security for the patient. Acknowledging Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing is the biggest step and this new curriculum is a start."

Under the new curriculum all Australian dental programs will be designed to meet the specific needs of their local communities.

Ms Satur said the new curriculum was overdue.

"We know dental care is expensive and oral health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are significant. We also know that poor oral health has multiple effects on other aspects of health," she said.

"It is time we changed our approaches to managing oral health with Indigenous peoples and we believe the new curriculum is a step towards achieving better outcomes."

The new plan launched this month will be implemented over five years.