1 week Ago By [email protected] (Annie Gouk)
It’s still just as difficult to register at an NHS dentist in Surrey as it was six months ago, despite Labour's promise to “rebuild” NHS dentistry. Updated analysis of the 168 practices in Surrey on the NHS’s “Find a dentist” website has revealed 137, or 82%, are still not currently accepting adults aged 18 or over. In one constituency - Godalming and Ash in Guildford - not a single NHS dentist is accepting new adult patients.
The situation remains exactly the same as in November, when we last crunched the numbers. And it’s not just adults who are affected - 70% of NHS dentists in Surrey are still not accepting children aged 17 or under. In reality, many of those that say they are accepting patients “when availability allows” may not be, or may have years-long waiting lists.
Those who cannot get NHS appointments are largely reliant on expensive private care, with rural and coastal areas some of the worst affected. See which dentists are accepting NHS patients in your area using our interactive map: The ongoing lack of NHS dentists is an issue nationally. Across England, nearly 4,800 of the more than 6,500 dentists on the site, or 73%, are still not currently accepting adults aged 18 or over - the same as in November.
When contacted by the Mirror as part of a joint investigation with the British Dental Association, 84 out of 100 practices that were listed as accepting new adult patients “when availability allows” in November were actually not accepting new NHS patients. One stated its waiting list was “at least ten years”. In total, 53 constituencies with a combined adult population of 4.
8 million people still don’t have a single available NHS dentist. Meanwhile, 62% of NHS dentists on the site are not accepting children aged 17 or under, a figure which again hasn’t improved since November. Overall, 43 constituencies don’t have a single practice accepting new child patients.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that a staggering 88% of people without a dentist who tried to secure NHS dental care in the last month were unsuccessful. Of those, 20% resorted to private dentistry, while a concerning 70% did nothing - with the BDA warning of increased burdens on the health service if early signs of disease go unchecked. Among those who attempted to access NHS dentistry but didn't have a dentist, 27% reported having an urgent need for dental care, with 22% stating they were in pain.
The Labour Party went into the 2024 election promising to reform the NHS contract fuelling the current crisis, to deliver 700,000 new urgent dental appointments and to roll out tried and tested preventive programmes in schools. There has been little material progress on these pledges to date, although from this month, integrated care boards - the NHS bodies that commission health services for regions in England - will be expected to purchase the 700,000 additional urgent care appointments, to be delivered by the end of April 2026..
