The amount of UK adults who have never tried to see an NHS dentist has increased by 3% in the past year – now reaching 29%, according to a new survey.
A further 19.8% had not tried to get an NHS appointment in more than two years. Of those who hadn’t tried in more than two years, 26.7% said this was because they preferred to go to a private dentist. A similar number (26.2%) said they did not think they could get an NHS appointment. Other reasons given included:
- Did not need a dental appointment (18.8%)
- NHS dental care is too expensive (5.6%)
- Disliking going to the dentist (5.2%)
- On a waiting list for an NHS dentist (3.9%).
Of the patients who had tried tried to get an appointment in the past two years, 84% contacted a practice that they had already been to before. Those who were successful in making an appointment largely had a positive experience of NHS dental services. Seven in 10 said their experience was positive overall, with 42% describing it as very good and 28.8% as fairly good.
‘Urgency and ambition’ needed for NHS dentistry
The data was collected as part of the Ipsos GP Patient Survey 2025, which received more than 700,000 responses by April 2025.
British Dental Association (BDA) analysis of the data found that nearly 14 million UK adults are unable to access NHS dentistry. The association estimated that 5.7 million patients had tried and failed to access NHS dental services in the past two years.
Representing more than one quarter of the population, the BDA said the number of people unable to access NHS care had increased from one in 10 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘We’ll never make the shift from sickness to prevention when millions have given up even trying to access care. Our patients continue to face an historic crisis, that requires a proportionate response from government.
‘Ministers agree that NHS dentistry is at death’s door. But they don’t appear ready yet to invest in the rebuild. It will take both urgency and ambition to save NHS dentistry.’
Follow Dentistry on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
