NHS Dental Statistics for England

Original data analysis from our directory of 2,530 NHS dental practices

2,530

Total Practices

69%

Accepting Adults

21%

Open Weekends

72%

CQC Registered

Patient Acceptance Rates

Accepting Adult Patients 1,770 (69%)

Accepting Children 2,524 (99%)

Accepting Charge-Exempt 1,839 (72%)

Not Accepting Adults 760 (30%)

Weekend & Out-of-Hours Availability

Open on Saturdays 530 (20%)

Open on Sundays 65 (2%)

Weekday Only 1,998 (78%)

Only 20% of NHS dental practices open on Saturdays, making weekend appointments one of the biggest challenges for working patients.

Best-Served Cities

Lowest people-per-dentist ratio (more dentists per person)

#	City	Practices	Population	Ratio
1	Marlow	16	14,000	1:875
2	Dudley	74	80,000	1:1,081
3	Epsom	22	31,000	1:1,409
4	Walsall	44	68,000	1:1,545
5	Gosport	15	32,000	1:2,133
6	Whitby	6	13,000	1:2,166
7	Dartford	26	57,000	1:2,192
8	Henley-on-Thames	5	12,000	1:2,400
9	Oldham	36	96,000	1:2,666
10	Leigh	16	43,000	1:2,687

Most Underserved Cities

Highest people-per-dentist ratio (fewer dentists per person)

#	City	Practices	Population	Ratio
1	Blackpool	1	139,000	1:139,000
2	Cheltenham	1	117,000	1:117,000
3	Milton Keynes	3	248,000	1:82,666
4	Bradford	7	546,000	1:78,000
5	Weston-super-Mare	1	76,000	1:76,000
6	Carlisle	1	75,000	1:75,000
7	Poole	2	150,000	1:75,000
8	Canterbury	1	55,000	1:55,000
9	Keighley	1	53,000	1:53,000
10	Bristol	9	472,000	1:52,444

Patient Review Statistics

1

Total Reviews

5.0

Average Rating

Data Quality

2,530

NHS.uk Listings

1,842

CQC Matched

224

Cities Covered

Methodology & Data Sources

All statistics on this page are computed from our database of NHS dental practice listings, originally sourced from NHS.uk and cross-referenced with Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration data. Population figures are based on the latest available ONS estimates.

The dentist-to-population ratio uses the number of practices listed within a defined radius of each city centre (adaptive radius, typically 10â€“25 miles) divided into the city's estimated population. This provides a relative comparison but should not be interpreted as a precise measure of NHS dental capacity, as individual practice sizes vary.

Weekend availability is determined from published opening times data. A practice is counted as "open on Saturdays" if it has any non-"Closed" entry for Saturday in its opening times. Data is refreshed regularly through automated validation checks.