Six in ten adults in England have not seen an NHS dentist in two years, and in more than 100 constituencies it is more than two in three
The NHS counts every adult who has had NHS dental treatment in the past two years, by where they live. We added those counts up for each of England's 543 Westminster constituencies and divided by the Office for National Statistics' own estimate of the adults living there. Across England 39.8% of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in the two years to March 2026, so six in ten were not. These are NHS figures only: adults who see a dentist privately are not counted, so this is not the share of adults with no dentist. The share seen runs from 16.9% in Plymouth Sutton and Devonport to 60.7% in Rother Valley. It is lower than in the two years to March 2020, before the pandemic, in 540 of the 543 constituencies. Across England there has been no clear change since the two years to March 2024.
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Key findings
- Six in ten adults in England (60.2%) did not see an NHS dentist in the two years to March 2026. 39.8% did. This counts NHS care only. Adults who see a dentist privately are not counted, so it is not the share of adults with no dentist.
- 16.9% to 60.7% is the range across England's 543 constituencies, from Plymouth Sutton and Devonport to Rother Valley. In 105 constituencies, home to 9.2 million adults, fewer than a third of adults were seen by an NHS dentist. 86 of them are outside London.
- 540 of 543 constituencies have a smaller share of adults seen by an NHS dentist in the two years to March 2026 than in the two years to March 2020, before the pandemic. The middle constituency is 7.4 points lower, and 174 are 10 points or more lower.
- No clear change across England in two years. The share was 40.1% in the two years to March 2024 and 39.8% in the two years to March 2026, a difference smaller than the uncertainty in the population estimates. 94 constituencies fell by two points or more and 97 rose by two points or more.
- Nine of the ten largest two-year falls are in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. In South Devon the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist was 35.0% in the two years to March 2024 and 21.3% in the two years to March 2026.
In October Practice Radar published children's NHS dental contact for every constituency in England. This is the adult counterpart. MPs, their offices and local papers work by constituency, and the NHS does not publish this figure for constituencies, so we built it for each of England's 543 Westminster constituencies on the boundaries used at the July 2024 general election. There is a search box below to find any constituency, and the full table is free to download.
One thing is measured. Adults seen is the share of people aged 18 and over living in a constituency who had at least one NHS dental course of treatment in the previous 24 months, from the NHS's own claims data. The NHS uses two years for adults because that is the longest gap between check-ups that national guidance recommends for an adult. NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) counts those adults by the ward they live in. We add the ward counts up into constituencies and divide by the Office for National Statistics' own estimate of the adults living in each one.
It counts NHS care only. An adult who sees a dentist privately is not in these figures, and nobody publishes how many do in each area. So a low figure means few adults are using NHS dentistry. It does not on its own mean they have no dentist.
1. Six in ten adults have not seen an NHS dentist in two years
Across England's 543 constituencies, 39.8% of adults saw an NHS dentist in the two years to 31 March 2026. That leaves 60.2%, six in ten, who did not. NHSBSA's own headline for England is 18.8 million adults seen, which it gives as 40% of England's 46.9 million adults. That leaves 28.1 million not seen. Our England figure is 39.8% because it leaves out 254,863 adults who were seen but cannot be placed in any ward in England, and so in any constituency, and because it divides by the mid-2024 population, the latest ONS has published for constituencies. Every constituency is compared with England measured the same way.
A slightly larger share of older adults is seen: 42.3% of people aged 65 and over, against 39.1% of those aged 18 to 64. Among people aged 85 and over it is 36.1%.
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2. Every constituency: from 16.9% to 60.7% of adults seen by an NHS dentist
Every constituency in England is on the chart below. Search for one to read its figures: the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist in the two years to March 2026, the same share in the two years to March 2024 and to March 2020, and the split by age.
Share of each constituency's adults seen by an NHS dentist, two years to March 2026
The middle constituency saw 40.4% of its adults. One constituency in ten is below 29.6% and one in ten is above 50.2%. In 105 constituencies, home to 9.2 million adults, fewer than a third of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in two years. 19 of those are in London and 86 are not. In 59 constituencies half or more were seen.
Two cautions before quoting the lowest figures. First, students. ONS counts students where they study, and a student may see a dentist where their family lives and be counted there, so a constituency with many students can look lower than it is. Five of the ten lowest are among the 54 constituencies with the most 18 to 24-year-olds, including Leeds Central and Headingley, Bristol Central and Exeter, and the table marks them. Those 54 constituencies have a middle figure of 33.5%, against 40.9% for the rest. Of the 105 constituencies below a third, 24 are in that group and 81 are not. Plymouth Sutton and Devonport is in that group, with 19.5% of its adults aged 18 to 24 against 10.6% across England. It is still the lowest in England, at 18.7%, if every 18 to 24-year-old above England's share is taken out of its population. Second, private care. These figures count NHS treatment only, so a constituency where many adults pay privately will look low for that reason, and nothing here says how many do. The other five in the lowest ten, Yeovil, South Devon, North West Norfolk, Plymouth Moor View and Peterborough, are not among those 54, and each is more than 12 points lower than in the two years to March 2020.
| Constituency | Main council | Adults seen, two years to March 2026 | Two years to March 2024 | Two years to March 2020 | Many 18 to 24-year-olds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth Sutton and Devonport | Plymouth | 16.9% | 21.7% | 37.5% | Yes |
| Bristol Central | Bristol | 18.3% | 17.9% | 30.1% | Yes |
| Yeovil | Somerset | 19.1% | 26.6% | 52.5% | No |
| Exeter | Exeter | 19.8% | 28.2% | 41.9% | Yes |
| Cities of London and Westminster | Westminster | 20.5% | 21.4% | 26.4% | Yes |
| South Devon | South Hams | 21.3% | 35.0% | 50.5% | No |
| Leeds Central and Headingley | Leeds | 21.5% | 21.3% | 27.7% | Yes |
| North West Norfolk | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 21.6% | 20.7% | 37.8% | No |
| Plymouth Moor View | Plymouth | 21.7% | 27.7% | 48.1% | No |
| Peterborough | Peterborough | 22.2% | 24.2% | 34.4% | No |
| Constituency | Main council | Adults seen, two years to March 2026 | Two years to March 2024 | Two years to March 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rother Valley | Rotherham | 60.7% | 58.3% | 65.3% |
| Sheffield South East | Sheffield | 60.2% | 59.6% | 65.8% |
| Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme | Doncaster | 58.0% | 58.0% | 63.4% |
| Chesterfield | Chesterfield | 57.2% | 54.3% | 59.5% |
| Penistone and Stocksbridge | Sheffield | 56.5% | 56.0% | 62.6% |
| Ossett and Denby Dale | Wakefield | 56.5% | 55.3% | 61.7% |
| North East Derbyshire | North East Derbyshire | 56.5% | 53.3% | 58.2% |
| Hastings and Rye | Hastings | 56.1% | 54.3% | 56.6% |
| Blaydon and Consett | County Durham | 56.1% | 56.9% | 63.8% |
| Doncaster North | Doncaster | 56.0% | 55.7% | 63.8% |
The highest shares are in South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire. Seven of the ten highest are mainly in Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Chesterfield or North East Derbyshire. The constituency file marks all 54 constituencies with the most 18 to 24-year-olds.
3. A smaller share of adults seen by an NHS dentist than before the pandemic in 540 of 543 constituencies
In the two years to March 2020, the last period almost untouched by the pandemic, 48.6% of adults in England saw an NHS dentist. In the two years to March 2026 it was 39.8%, 8.7 points lower. 540 of the 543 constituencies have a smaller share than they had then. The three that do not are Dartford, Sittingbourne and Sheppey and Tonbridge.
Adults seen by an NHS dentist before the pandemic and now, constituency by constituency
The middle constituency is 7.4 points lower than in the two years to March 2020. 174 constituencies are 10 points or more lower, and 402 are 5 points or more lower. The largest fall is in Yeovil, where 52.5% of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in the two years to March 2020 and 19.1% in the two years to March 2026. Nine of the ten largest falls between those two periods are in Devon and Somerset. The other is Mid Norfolk.
4. No clear change across England in two years, and large falls in some constituencies
In the two years to March 2024, 40.1% of adults in England were seen by an NHS dentist. In the two years to March 2026 it was 39.8%. That is not a clear change, because a difference this small depends on which population estimate each period is divided by. On the population figures NHSBSA uses for England, the share is 40.0% in both periods. The number of adults seen went up by 2.1%, and the adult population went up by about as much: 2.6% on the ONS constituency estimates used here, and 1.8% on the England estimates NHSBSA uses.
Change in the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist, two years to March 2024 against two years to March 2026
Constituencies moved more than England did, though most moved little. In 352 of the 543 the change was under two points either way, which is too small to call a rise or a fall. 94 constituencies fell by two points or more and 97 rose by two points or more. The falls go much further than the rises. The largest rise is 6.5 points, in Lowestoft, from 48.6% in the two years to March 2024 to 55.1% in the two years to March 2026. The largest fall is 13.7 points, in South Devon, from 35.0% to 21.3% over the same two periods.
| Constituency | Main council | Two years to March 2024 | Two years to March 2026 | Change, points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Devon | South Hams | 35.0% | 21.3% | -13.7 |
| Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor | County Durham | 42.7% | 30.5% | -12.3 |
| Taunton and Wellington | Somerset | 35.0% | 24.0% | -11.0 |
| Glastonbury and Somerton | Somerset | 34.0% | 23.5% | -10.5 |
| Bridgwater | Somerset | 33.6% | 23.2% | -10.4 |
| Central Devon | Teignbridge | 38.8% | 28.7% | -10.2 |
| Wells and Mendip Hills | Somerset | 33.1% | 23.2% | -9.9 |
| Honiton and Sidmouth | East Devon | 39.9% | 30.1% | -9.8 |
| Newton Abbot | Teignbridge | 39.5% | 29.8% | -9.7 |
| St Austell and Newquay | Cornwall | 38.9% | 29.6% | -9.3 |
| Lowestoft | East Suffolk | 48.6% | 55.1% | +6.5 |
| Dover and Deal | Dover | 34.1% | 40.4% | +6.3 |
| Nottingham North and Kimberley | Nottingham | 42.2% | 48.5% | +6.3 |
| Castle Point | Castle Point | 49.6% | 55.3% | +5.7 |
| Stoke-on-Trent Central | Stoke-on-Trent | 42.9% | 48.5% | +5.7 |
| Bolsover | Bolsover | 44.4% | 49.9% | +5.5 |
| Sittingbourne and Sheppey | Swale | 43.0% | 48.5% | +5.5 |
| Ashfield | Ashfield | 37.6% | 43.0% | +5.4 |
| Sherwood Forest | Newark and Sherwood | 44.1% | 49.5% | +5.4 |
| Southend West and Leigh | Southend-on-Sea | 43.1% | 48.4% | +5.3 |
Nine of the ten largest falls are in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. The other is Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor in County Durham. NHSBSA's own council figures show the same pattern. For South Hams council, which holds most of the adults in South Devon, NHSBSA's share of adults seen is 34.8% for the two years to March 2024 and 20.0% for the two years to March 2026. These figures say where NHS dental contact has fallen. They do not say why, and they do not measure the work of any practice, council or representative.
5. Adults' NHS dental contact does not follow deprivation
Low NHS contact for adults is not concentrated in the most deprived places. Deprivation here is the government's English Indices of Deprivation 2025, averaged across each constituency's neighbourhoods by the number of people aged 16 and over living in them. None of the ten lowest constituencies is among the 54 most deprived. Across all 543, the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist rises slightly with deprivation (rank correlation 0.21, where 0 is no relationship and 1 is a perfect one). The most deprived third of constituencies has a middle figure of 42.6%, and the least deprived third 39.5%. That is what you would expect if more adults in better-off places pay privately, though these figures cannot show it. London is a little lower than the rest of England: the middle London constituency saw 38.4% of its adults, against 40.9% elsewhere.
What to do about it
If you represent or report on a constituency, find it in the chart above or in the constituency file. The figure belongs to the constituency, so it can be quoted as that. Quote it as adults seen by an NHS dentist, not adults with a dentist, because private care is not counted. The file gives the figure for the two years to March 2024 and to March 2020, so the direction is there as well as the level. Treat a two-year change of less than two points as no change. Where the share has fallen sharply, the local integrated care board, which commissions NHS dentistry, holds the figures on how much is commissioned for adults there and how much is delivered.
If you hold an NHS contract in a constituency where few adults are seen, some of the people ringing you will not have seen an NHS dentist for years. Say plainly on your website and on your NHS website profile whether you are taking new adult NHS patients, and keep it up to date, because the profile lists adults and children separately. If you are not, say what you can offer instead, so the caller is not left with nothing.
If you are a private or mixed practice, a constituency where two in three adults have not seen an NHS dentist in two years holds different groups: adults who already pay privately somewhere, adults who have not needed or wanted to go, and adults who have gone without. Some of the last group are looking for a way back in. A clear new patient page that says what a first visit involves and what it costs at your practice, and a membership plan for people who want to spread the cost, answer the questions they arrive with.
If you are deciding where to open or buy, the change over two years tells you more than the level. A constituency where the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist has dropped ten points in two years has thousands fewer adults in NHS dental care than it had two years ago.
How we did this
Constituencies. All 543 English Westminster parliamentary constituencies on the 2024 boundaries. Constituency codes and names are from the ONS Ward to Westminster Parliamentary Constituency (May 2025) lookup.
Adults seen. NHSBSA, NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26, published in August 2026: the "patients seen by patient location" files at ward level. They count adults aged 18 and over by the ward they live in (May 2025 wards) who had at least one NHS course of treatment in the 24 months to 31 March 2026, 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2020, in four age bands. The ward counts were added up into constituencies. 272 of the 6,810 wards in the file cross a constituency boundary. Each of those was shared out by counting its 2021 census output areas: every live residential postcode in the ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (February 2026) counts as one over the number of residential postcodes in its output area, so each output area counts once. In the middle constituency none of the count comes from shared-out wards, and in 16 constituencies more than a quarter does. The file gives that share for each constituency.
Population. Every rate divides by ONS's own small-area population estimate for the constituency, aged 18 and over, from Nomis (dataset NM_2014_1), not by the population column in NHSBSA's ward file. ONS has published constituency estimates up to mid-2024, so the two years to March 2026 can only be divided by mid-2024, the estimate for 21 months before the period ends. We divide every period the same way: the two years to March 2024 by mid-2022, and the two years to March 2020 by mid-2018. In each case that is the population close to the start of the two years, not the people counted at the end of them. Our children's constituency study used the mid-years NHSBSA itself uses, and both choices are compared under the controls below.
Checked against council figures. NHSBSA publishes the same counts by council. Our ward counts, added up by council, match its 296 council rows to within a tenth of one per cent for every council except the City of London and the Isles of Scilly, where a few small ward counts are withheld.
England. 254,863 adults seen in the two years to March 2026 could not be placed in a ward in England, because the postcode on the claim was missing, could not be matched or was elsewhere in the UK. They are in no constituency. England is measured the same way as the constituencies for comparison, 39.8%. Adding those adults back gives 40.4% of the mid-2024 population, which is what NHSBSA's regional table adds up to, and 40% of the mid-2025 population, which is the figure NHSBSA gives for England.
Controls we ran. The two-year comparison depends on the population each period is divided by. On ours, England is 0.2 points lower in the two years to March 2026 than in the two years to March 2024, and 277 constituencies are higher and 266 lower. NHSBSA's regional and ward tables divide the two years to March 2024 by the mid-2023 population and the two years to March 2026 by mid-2024. On that basis England is 0.3 points higher and 346 constituencies are higher. NHSBSA's England and council tables use mid-2025 for the latest period, and on those populations England is 40.0% in both periods. So no direction is claimed for England, and a constituency's two-year change is treated as a rise or a fall only at two points or more: 75 constituencies fell by that much and 96 rose by that much whichever of the first two bases is used. Against the two years to March 2020 the choice makes no difference: 540 constituencies are lower on either basis. Using the populations in NHSBSA's ward file instead of ONS's constituency estimates moves no constituency by as much as one point and gives 107 constituencies below a third instead of 105. Counting postcodes instead of output areas for the shared-out wards moves 40 constituencies by more than half a point, by at most 2.0 points, and gives 104 below a third. Adjusting each constituency to England's adult age mix, on the four age bands NHSBSA publishes, changes the middle constituency by 0.2 points and leaves 98 below a third. 51 of the 54 lowest constituencies are still among the 54 lowest after it. Leaving out the 54 constituencies with the most 18 to 24-year-olds, 486 of the remaining 489 are lower than in the two years to March 2020. Taking every 18 to 24-year-old above England's share out of each constituency's population, as if none of them had been seen, leaves Plymouth Sutton and Devonport the lowest and 94 constituencies below a third.
What this is not. It is not a measure of private dentistry, which none of these sources count, so it is not the share of adults with no dentist. It counts NHS treatment claimed by dental practices, orthodontic treatment included, and not NHS dental treatment in hospital. It is not a sample: these are counts of every NHS claim, so there is no margin of error, though small errors come from sharing out wards and from population estimates. Adults are counted where they live, not where their dentist is. And two years is the window: an adult seen 25 months ago is not counted.
Questions we get asked about this data
How many adults in my constituency see an NHS dentist?
Search for the constituency in the chart in section 2, or open the constituency file. Across England's 543 constituencies it ranged from 16.9% to 60.7% in the two years to March 2026, with the middle constituency at 40.4%.
Does this mean six in ten adults have no dentist?
No. It means six in ten adults did not have NHS dental treatment in two years. Some of them see a dentist privately, some have not needed or wanted to go, and some could not get an NHS appointment. These figures cannot tell those groups apart.
Has the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist gone up or down in two years?
Across England there is no clear change. It was 40.1% in the two years to March 2024 and 39.8% in the two years to March 2026, and the direction of a difference that small depends on which population estimate is used. Individual constituencies have moved much more: 94 fell by two points or more and 97 rose by two points or more. Against the two years to March 2020, before the pandemic, 540 of 543 constituencies are lower.
Why is your England figure a little different from the NHS's?
NHSBSA's headline for England is 18.8 million adults seen, 40% of England's adults. Ours is 39.8%. We leave out the 254,863 adults who were seen but cannot be placed in a ward in England, since they cannot be placed in a constituency, and we divide by the mid-2024 population, the latest ONS has published for constituencies, where NHSBSA's England figure uses mid-2025. Every constituency is compared with England measured the same way.
For editors
The data is free to reuse with attribution to Practice Radar, under Creative Commons BY 4.0. Sources: NHSBSA NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26 (adults seen by ward, two years to March 2020, March 2024 and March 2026), ONS small-area population estimates for constituencies, and ONS postcode and ward lookups. NHSBSA asks for this line with its data: NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26, NHSBSA Copyright 2026. Please describe the figure as adults seen by an NHS dentist. It does not count private care, so it is not the share of adults with a dentist. The constituency file, adults-seen-by-an-nhs-dentist-by-constituency-2026.csv, has one row per constituency with its ONS code. The children's figures are in our children's constituency study.
Jack Henty, who compiled this analysis, co-owns Bollington Dental Practice in Cheshire and founded Practice Radar, which measures local dental markets for practices. He is available for interview.
Contact: hello@practiceradar.co.uk
Cite and reuse
To cite this study. Practice Radar, “Six in ten adults in England have not seen an NHS dentist in two years, and in 105 constituencies it is more than two in three”, 12 November 2026, https://practiceradar.co.uk/blog/adults-seen-by-an-nhs-dentist-by-constituency-2026
The data. Adults seen by an NHS dentist by constituency (CSV, 543 rows), with a README that explains each column.
Licence. The data is free to reuse under Creative Commons BY 4.0. Attribution means crediting Practice Radar and linking to this study. It is built from public sector information, so please also keep these lines: “NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26, NHSBSA Copyright 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.”
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