This report describes the intra-oral distribution of caries and frequency of reported toothache using data from 9690 South Australian children aged 5-15 years. School dental therapists and dentists recorded dmfs and DMFS data and a questionnaire to parents sought information about toothache and its impact. There were higher levels of caries experience in deciduous teeth (mean 6-year-old dmfs = 2.61) compared with permanent teeth (mean 12-year-old DMFS = 1.15). In the deciduous dentition: between 11.4 per cent (9-year-olds) and 37.7 per cent (5-year-olds) of total dmfs was present as untreated decay; between 39.1 per cent (7-year-olds) and 42.8 per cent (10-year-olds) occurred on interproximal surfaces; and between 2.0 per cent (10-year-olds) and 27.8 per cent (5-year-olds) occurred in anterior teeth. In the permanent dentition, the majority of permanent caries experience occurred as fillings in pits and fissures of first molars and involved a single surface. Between 11.8 per cent (5-year-olds) and 31.8 per cent (12-year-olds) of children had a reported history of toothache, although the figure exceeded 50 per cent among children with all three forms of pit/fissure, interproximal and smooth-surface caries experience. The observed pattern of caries provides the basis for continued use of fissure sealants as a preventive measure among school children.