Analysis finds only 20% of adults in Peterborough saw an NHS dentist in two years

The analysis ties access to an NHS dentist to the constituency a patient lives in, not only the household budget [5].

For patients, that shifts the measure of access. Unity Trust Bank produced the constituency analysis, using data from the NHS Business Services Authority [5]. The bank is a social impact lender that finances dental surgeries. Andrew Pakes, the Labour MP for Peterborough, called it "an SOS call on the state of NHS dentistry" [5]. The Nuffield Trust figures and the constituency analysis point in opposite directions [3][5]. Child access is rising while adult access falls [3][5]. England has more dental practices than a decade ago, but a smaller share take NHS patients [3][5].

The British Dental Association says reform needs £1.5 billion a year more than the £3.5 billion set for 2024/25 [1].

The Department of Health and Social Care said its reforms prioritised patients with the greatest needs [1]. It pointed to 1.8 million extra courses of treatment between April and October 2025, against the same seven months before the 2024 election [1]. NHS dental funding in England sat at about £3 billion for over a decade [1]. Dentistry's share of the NHS budget fell from 3.3% in 2010 to 1.5% in 2024 [1]. Labour raised the annual budget to £3.5 billion for 2024/25 [1]. The Nuffield Trust put dental spending 31% lower in real terms than in 2009/10 [4]. The BDA polled 415 family dentists [1]. Some 63% planned to cut their NHS work and 1% planned to increase it [1]. Only 10% said recent contract changes had made NHS dentistry better [1].

Where the gaps are

Peterborough recorded 20% of adults seen in the previous two years, against 40% across England [5].

Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View both stood at 23%, and the South West was the region with the biggest access problem [5]. Stoke-on-Trent South had the fewest dental practices for its population [5]. Scotland has more dentists relative to population than England [5].

In June 2025, 40% of adults had seen an NHS dentist within the recommended two years, against 50% before the pandemic [4].

The practices that left

One in ten dental practices in England, 608 in total, have abandoned their NHS contract since March 2017, including 135 since 2024 [3]. Nuffield Trust researchers counted 10,160 practices operating in England, over 400 more than a decade earlier [3]. The share offering NHS general dental services fell from 64.6% to 55.6% [3]. Registered NHS dentists fell from 6,262 in March 2017 to 5,654 in March 2026 [3]. Mark Dayan of the Nuffield Trust said the retreat "was never an announcement or a policy", but practices deciding NHS work was no longer worth doing [3].

Emergency hospital admissions for dental decay reached 2,528 in 2023/24 [4].

Who goes without

Unmet need fell to 13.3 million in 2026 from 13.8 million in 2025, according to BDA analysis of the Ipsos GP Survey for England [2]. Some 6.2 million people did not seek treatment because they thought they could not get an appointment, up 300,000 [2]. Another 4.9 million tried and failed, down 800,000 [2]. One in four adults still goes without care, against about one in ten before the pandemic [2]. A further 1.3 million said they could not afford NHS dental charges, and 800,000 were on a practice waiting list [2].

Children and what comes next

Child access has moved the other way. Some 60% of children saw an NHS dentist in the last year, up from 56% in June 2024 [5].

Child courses of treatment rose 7% to 13 million after incentives for child emergency cases [5]. The BDA has warned that new dental schools are "no silver bullet" [6]. The University of East Anglia's school, which takes its first students next year, will create 25 training places [6]. The government continues to consult on contract reform, with Labour committed to an overhaul before the end of this parliament [1].