Universal dentistry has been “lost” according to worrying new research which shows 600 practices have stopped seeing NHS patients.
The scale of dentists handing back their NHS contracts and going private is today revealed in analysis for the Mirror ’s Dentists for All campaign. The most comprehensive ever study of the decade-long oral health crisis by the respected Nuffield Trust thinktank concludes - “NHS dental care is hard to find in England, if not impossible”.
One in ten dental practices, or 608 in total, have abandoned their NHS contract since March 2017 in England. This includes a loss of 135 NHS practices since 2024 - the year Labour came to power.
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Map indicating regions where it is hardest to get an NHS dentist
