Public services · The national record
NHS dentistry in England
Access to NHS dentistry in England has not recovered from the pandemic. By 30 June 2026, only 40.16 per cent of adults, roughly 18.8 million people, had seen an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months. That means about 28 million adults have had no NHS dental contact in two years. Children are better served at 60.08 per cent, but access varies sharply by place. Scotland and Wales run separate dental systems; all figures here are England only.
How to read this
Patients seen is measured as the proportion of the adult (18 and over) or child (under 18) population who had at least one NHS dental appointment in the 24 months (adults) or 12 months (children) before the reference date. An ICB is an Integrated Care Board, the NHS commissioning body for a local area. National percentages use ONS mid year 2025 population estimates; ICB and regional percentages use mid year 2024 estimates by patient home address. Scotland and Wales commission NHS dentistry separately from England and are not included in any figure on this page.
Computed from NHSBSA NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26 (national activity, patient location and workforce summary tables, published 27 August 2026) and the NHS England GP Patient Survey dental supplementary tables, January to March 2025. National adult and child percentages are for 30 June 2026 using ONS mid year 2025 population estimates.
Public services · The national record
About 28 million adults not seen in two years
At 30 June 2026, 40.16 per cent of adults in England had seen an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months, roughly 18.8 million people out of 46.9 million. That means about 28 million adults, around 60 per cent of the adult population, have had no NHS dental contact in the past two years. The problem is structural: before the pandemic, about 47.18 per cent of adults were seen. Access fell sharply during 2020 to 2022 as NHS dental contracts were suspended, hitting a low of 33.87 per cent in March 2022, and has recovered only partly since. Activity is rising: 37.6 million courses of treatment were delivered in 2025/26, 6.2 per cent more than in 2024/25, and 25,419 dentists carried out NHS work, 3.1 per cent more. The share of adults actually seen has moved from 39.7 per cent at 31 March 2025 to 40.0 per cent a year later.
The access cliff
From near half to about forty per cent
The chart below shows the proportion of adults seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months, from June 2020 to June 2026. The pre pandemic level (47.18%) had already been falling before COVID. Access collapsed as NHS dental services were restricted and contracted in 2020 to 2022, reaching a low of 33.87 per cent in March 2022. Recovery has been slow and partial: six years on the figure stands at 40.16 per cent, still well below where it started.
Adults seen by an NHS dentist in England in the previous 24 months, as a percentage of the adult population. Source: NHSBSA.
Dental deserts
From 24.5 per cent to 52.5 per cent by ICB area
Access to NHS dentistry is sharply unequal by geography. Among ICB areas in 2025/26, the adult rate ranges from 24.5 per cent in Somerset to 52.5 per cent in South Yorkshire, a gap of 28.0 percentage points. The worst served areas cluster in the South West and rural East of England, where dentist capacity is lowest relative to population. The best served are mostly in the North.
Lowest access (adult %)
Highest access (adult %)
Adults seen by an NHS dentist in the previous 24 months, as a percentage of the adult population by ICB of patient home address, 2025/26. ICB percentages use 2024 ONS mid year estimates. Source: NHSBSA.
Regional picture
South West the clear outlier
By NHS region, the South West records the lowest adult access at 30.6 per cent, far below the North West (45.5 per cent) and North East and Yorkshire (44.5 per cent), which record the highest rates. London (36.9 per cent) and the South East (37.0 per cent) are also below the national average of 40.16 per cent.
England national average: 40.16% at 30 Jun 2026. Regions 2025/26. Source: NHSBSA.
Getting through the door
South West bottom on both measures
The GP Patient Survey (January to March 2025, the latest dental tables published) asked those who had tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the past two years whether they succeeded. Across England, 78.0 per cent said yes. The South West region was the clear outlier at 66.0 per cent, matching its bottom position in the NHSBSA access data. Among ICS areas, Somerset ICS was worst at 56.0 per cent and Coventry and Warwickshire ICS was best at 89.0 per cent.
Success rate by region (GPPS Jan to Mar 2025)
England overall: 78%. Source: NHS England GP Patient Survey.
Hardest to get an appointment
Easiest to get an appointment
Questions this raises
For NHS dental policy
- 1.
Six years after the pandemic, 28 million adults have had no NHS dental contact. Courses of treatment rose 6.2 per cent in 2025/26, yet the share of adults seen moved by less than a point. Why has recovery stalled at around 40 per cent when the pre pandemic norm was close to 50 per cent?
- 2.
Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough record adult access rates below 30 per cent. Is this a recruitment and retention failure, a commissioning failure, or both? What would it take to close the gap with South Yorkshire at 52.5 per cent?
- 3.
The GPPS shows that in Somerset only 73.0 per cent of those who tried to get an NHS dental appointment succeeded. What is happening to the people who give up?
- 4.
Children are seen at higher rates than adults but access still fell heavily in 2020 to 2022. What is the long term oral health cost of the generation that missed routine childhood dental care?
- 5.
NHS dental contracts pay by activity units (UDAs), which critics argue incentivise high volume simple work over complex treatment. Is the contract model itself a root cause of the access problem?
Sources & method
Data provenance
- NHSBSA NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26: national activity summary tables, contract location (Tables 1a, 2a, 4a to 4d) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- NHSBSA NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26: geographical breakdown, patient location (Tables 3e, 3f) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- NHSBSA NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26: workforce overview summary tables (Table 1a) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- NHS England GP Patient Survey dental supplementary tables, January to March 2025 (Table 1) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
Caveats & data notes
- All figures are England only. Scotland and Wales commission NHS dentistry through separate systems and are not included.
- "Seen in the previous 24 months" (adults) and "seen in the previous 12 months" (children) means at least one NHS dental appointment; it does not measure treatment quality or continuity of care.
- National adult and child percentages use the ONS mid year 2025 estimate as the denominator. This edition applies revised ONS population estimates, so every adult percentage from 30 Jun 2022 to 30 Jun 2025 is lower than in the 2024/25 edition by up to 0.37 percentage points (30 June 2025: 39.44 per cent, previously 39.81). Patient counts are identical in both editions and quarters up to 31 Mar 2022 are unchanged.
- ICB and regional percentages are by patient home address and use ONS mid year 2024 population estimates, so they are not directly comparable with the national rate, which uses 2025 estimates.
- The NHSBSA headline figures (18.8 million adults, 40 per cent; 7.17 million children, 60 per cent) describe the position at 31 March 2026. This page leads on the latest quarter in the same tables, 30 June 2026.
- The GP Patient Survey success rate (Table 1) covers January to March 2025, the latest dental supplementary tables published by NHS England at 2 September 2026, and is based on a sample survey; figures carry sampling uncertainty (see published confidence intervals).
- Patients seen includes orthodontic visits. It is not possible to identify which patients were seen solely for orthodontic treatment.
Every figure on this page traces to its official source. Share it as it stands.
Keep going
Related deep dives
How the four hour standard has slipped to 75 per cent, the rise in 12 hour waits, and the worst trusts.
33.9 million appointments in July 2026, 4.3 per cent more than a year earlier, 44.7 per cent seen the same day and 82.0 per cent within two weeks, who delivers them, and the official split between urgent and routine care.
7,278,384 referral to treatment pathways were waiting at the end of May 2026, around 6.2 million individual patients, with 65.6 per cent within 18 weeks against a 92 per cent standard last met in September 2015, and 104,734 waits of more than a year.
The monthly reading
Get the next one by email
One email a month: the national resilience score, what moved, and the newest analyses like this one, plus The Quarterly Record four times a year. Every figure traced to its official source.