This annual report brings together information on NHS dental activity in England for the 12-month period to 31 March 2023 (including clinical treatments, orthodontic activity, patient eligibility and charges, and dental workforce) and information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist up to 30 June 2023. Data is also provided for the previous 4 financial years for comparison. This publication includes information about patients seen and NHS dental activity broken down to dental contract level. For further information about the data in this publication please see the supporting information in the resources linked below. To limit COVID-19 transmissions, dental practices were instructed to close and cease all routine dental care from the 25th March 2020, and began to reopen from 8th June 2020. The data reported in the publication including activity, patient numbers, finances and treatments, will be lower than expected during the time period of restrictions. Further information can be found in our 2019/20 Annual publication supplementary report and the data quality statement - see links below. NOTE: .csv files may not open in applications such as Microsoft Excel due to the number of rows included in the dataset. Users may wish to import the file directly into a database, or alternatively use a text editor to split the file for import/use in applications such as Microsoft Excel.

This annual report brings together information on NHS dental activity in England for the 12-month period to 31 March 2020 (including clinical treatments and dental workforce) and information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist up to 30 June 2020. This publication includes information about patients seen and NHS dental activity broken down to dental practice level. To limit COVID-19 transmissions, dental practices were instructed to close and cease all routine dental care from the 25th March 2020. The data reported in the publication including activity, patient numbers, finances and treatments, will be lower than expected during the time period of restrictions. The supplementary report for this publication estimates the impact on the number of patients seen and more information can be found in Annex 5 data quality statement.

In 2025, according to the results from a survey done in England, ** percent of respondents rated the NHS dental service as very good. Yet, around *** in ten respondents said their experience with NHS dentists was very poor.

This annual report includes information on patients receiving NHS dental care in England for the 12 month period to 31 March 2017. Subjects covered include dental activity, clinical treatments and dental workforce. Information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist up to 30 June 2017 is also included.

Statistics on the results of the GP Patient Survey’s newly added dental questions. Questions relate to patients’ access to NHS dental care. Source agency: NHS England Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: GPPS Dental Statistics

NHS dental statistics for England, patient seen aggregated to CCG level. The patients seen measure shows the number of patients who received NHS dental care in the previous 24 months, where their last Course of Treatment (CoT) started within the past 24 months. This information is taken from the FP17 form and the 24 month period is based on the date of validation processing at NHS Dental Services. Any CoT started but not processed within the period will not appear in the 24 month count.

NHS dental statistics for England, child patient seen, by age, aggregated to CCG level. The patients seen measure shows the number of patients who received NHS dental care in the previous 24 months, where their last Course of Treatment (CoT) started within the past 24 months. This information is taken from the FP17 form and the 24 month period is based on the date of validation processing at NHS Dental Services. Any CoT started but not processed within the period will not appear in the 24 month count.

This biannual report contains dental activity for England covering April to September 2021 and patients seen data for 24 month period (adults) and 12 month period (children) up to 31 December 2021. Please note that this report contains corrected patients seen data for the period between December 2020 and June 2021. For further information please see the Annex 5 data quality statement - see links below. This publication includes information about patients seen and NHS dental activity broken down to dental practice level. To limit COVID-19 transmissions, dental practices were instructed to close and cease all routine dental care from the 25th March 2020. The data reported in the publication including activity and patient numbers will be lower than expected during the time period of restrictions. Further information can be found in our 2019/20 Annual publication supplementary report and the Annex 5 data quality statement - see links below.

In 2024, approximately **** thousand dental practitioners were in employment in the United Kingdom (UK). In recent years the number of dental practitioners has generally decreased in the UK, since in 2015 there were still roughly 46 thousand dentists in employment. In the UK, dental practitioners provide general primary care dental services to patients and can either work completely inside the National Health Service (NHS), exclusively privately or a combination of the two. Who goes to the dentist? In 2023/24, it was found that only **** in ten adults visited the dentist in the past two years. The often-quoted advice is to have a dental check every six months, but the recommended time needed between consultations depends on the oral health of the individual. This means the time between check-ups can range from three months to even two years between consultations. Dental services A large number of respondents in a 2024 survey rated their experience of NHS dental services as positive. Some **** percent evaluated the services as very good, while a further ** percent valued their experience as fairly good. However, public satisfaction of dental services in the UK, and all other services of NHS, was at an all-time low in 2023.

Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) performed by treatment band in England

Source: Department of Health (DoH)

Publisher: Information Centre (IC)

Geographies: Primary Care Trust (PCT), Strategic Health Authority (SHA)

Time coverage: 2007

Type of data: Administrative data

NHS dental statistics for England - Units of Dental Activity (UDA) by Primary Care Trust (PCT) level. This dataset was replaced from 01/04/2013 by the UDA at CCG and Local Authority datasets.

This indicator measures the weighted percentage of people who report their overall experience of NHS dental services as ‘fairly good’ or ‘very good’.

Purpose

This indicator aims to capture the experience of patients of NHS dental services.

Current version updated: Sep-17

Next version due: Aug-18

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Longitudinal Dental Treatment dataset traces the National Health Service (NHS) primary care dental treatments for a c.5% cohort of patients treated in England and Wales between 1990 and 2006. The dataset is intended to be used primarily as a resource for academic research. The dataset was originally developed by NHS Dental Services, now part of the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), but has since been transferred to the Information Centre for Health and Social Care (HSCIC).

This cohort study ceased collection of data in 2006 with the introduction of the 2006 NHS Dental Contract. The 2006 contract required a different national minimum dataset and there is currently no ongoing data collection for the original cohort of this study, nor any current plans for a similar exercise.

Data formats:
Users should note that due to the size of the data files, only SPSS and ASCII .dat versions are available; Stata versions have not been created.


Main Topics:

The longitudinal file data are contained in three files as follows:

• GDS Claims – contains a record for each claim. The file includes relevant information about the dentist and the patient, at the time of the course of treatment to which the claim relates, plus the dates of start and end of the course of treatment, where the surgery was located, and how much the course of treatment cost in gross fees (inclusive of any contribution from the patient).
GDS Treats – contains a record for each treatment item on each claim, excluding those which are tooth-specific. Includes records of individual treatment items coded as in the Statement of Dental Remuneration. Against each treatment item is recorded a count of the number of instances (e.g. number of radiographs, number of visits).
GDS Patts.sav – contains a record for each tooth-specific item on each claim, giving the tooth positions of each tooth treated. The data are restricted to those treatment items for which a tooth notation is required. For each treatment it records the teeth treated, using the characters #, %, £ and ‘ to designate the four quadrants - Upper Right, Upper Left, Lower Right and Lower Left respectively, and the numbers 1-8 and ABCDE and S (for supernumerary). There is also a record of the number of quadrants in which teeth were treated. Within the 40-character variable for tooth notation, the 1st, 11th, 21st and 31st are occupied by quadrant designators, each followed by the corresponding tooth numbers within the quadrant.

In 2024, UK households spent approximately 5.6 billion British pounds on dental services. Household spending on dental services roughly tripled since 2020 when a large decrease was recorded. Dental practices were mandated to close for at least 3 months in 2020 near the beginning of the COVID pandemic.Dental staff in the UKThe number of dental practitioners in the UK has been fluctuating since 2010 and has been decreasing since the peak of **** thousand in 2015. Meanwhile, the number of medical and dental technicians has also been fluctuating since 2010, currently at the second-highest peak of **** thousand technicians in 2024. Satisfaction with dental servicesThe British public in general have a positive view of dental services in their country. In a 2024 survey, ** percent in England rated their experience of NHS dental services as fairly good, while a further ** percent rated the service as very good.

This biannual report contains dental activity for England covering April to September 2019 and patients seen data for 24 month period (adults) and 12 month period (children) up to 31 December 2019. This report includes, for the first time, adult patients seen figures broken down for 18-64, 65-74, 75-84 and 85+ age groups, alongside the single year age groups for children. Following the NHS Dental Statistics Review 2019, NHS Dental Statistics publication have been changed from quarterly to twice a year. The next release is in August 2020. It will reflect significant changes to NHS England's hierarchical structure, which are taking place in April 2020. 14 NHS England (Region, Local Offices), are being replaced by 42 sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) as the Higher-Level Health Authority. There are currently 191 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), 74 of these are merging into 18 new CCGs which will leave a total of 135. For more information please see link below to Change summary - 2020 STP, CCG and Commissioning Hub reconfiguration.

NHS dental statistics for England - Courses of Treatment (CoT) by Primary Care Trust (PCT) level. This dataset was replaced from 01/04/2013 by the CoTs at CCG and Local Authority datasets.