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To compare cross‐cultural differences of dental health behavior, 376 dental students in Japan and 213 in Australia were surveyed using a twenty‐item Hiroshima University‐Dental Behavior Inventory (HU‐DBI) questionnaire (in Japanese and English versions respectively). The mean DBI score of Year 1 Australian students was significantly greater than that of their Japanese peers (Australian 6.56, Japanese 5.57; P < 0.001), which suggested a higher level of dental health awareness in Australian students on entry. Only 7 percent of the Japanese students had been told by their dentist that they were performing a high level of plaque control, as contrasted with 50 percent of the Australian students. Furthermore, while only a small proportion of the Australian students (8 percent) reported a belief that they may eventually require dentures, 37 percent of the Japanese students held this belief (P < 0.001). The mean HU‐DBI score of the Japanese students was lower than that of the Australian students until Year 4. Differences between the genders were not a major feature.