We monitor every NHS dental practice in England and track how availability changes over time — region by region, week by week. This page is for journalists and researchers.
DentistAlert (dentistalert.co.uk) is an independent UK service that monitors every NHS dental practice in England — around 6,400 — and emails people when a practice near their postcode starts accepting new NHS patients. It launched in 2026 and is not affiliated with the NHS.
Every practice is checked against the NHS.uk find-a-dentist website once a week in a full national sweep, and practices near members’ saved postcodes are re-checked every weeknight. Detected changes are delivered by around 8:30am for paying members, or in a free Monday weekly digest. Each practice record blends three sources: official NHS data, our own NHS.uk checks, and community reports from people who phone practices and report back what they heard.
None of these figures are ours — they come from parliament, watchdogs, think tanks, and the press, and each links to the primary source.
Healthwatch England: Dentistry — what's it like for people?
Over 12 million adults in England don't have access to an NHS dentist.
House of Commons Library: NHS dentistry in England (CBP-9597)
Around 9 in 10 NHS dental practices are not accepting new adult patients. Comprehensive briefing with regional data.
Public Accounts Committee: Fixing NHS Dentistry (April 2025)
Cross-party MPs found the government's dental recovery plan “has resulted in worsening the picture”.
Nuffield Trust: Bold action or slow decay
NHS-funded dental services in England described as in “near-terminal decline”. Satisfaction has fallen from 60% in 2019 to 20% — the lowest of any NHS service.
Healthwatch England (March 2026): financially struggling hit hardest
Private dentistry use has nearly doubled among people who describe themselves as struggling financially — 14% in 2023 to 27% in 2025.
British Dental Journal: returned NHS dental funding
Between 2023 and 2025, dentists in England returned nearly £1bn in public funding because practices couldn't meet activity targets under the current contract.
BBC News: ongoing NHS dentistry coverage
Years of reporting on patients waiting years to register, practices overwhelmed, and queues round the block when a list opens.
We publish our methodology in full — the three-source data model, the checking cadence (every practice weekly, every weeknight near members), and the reliability-scoring formula we apply to every practice listing. We’d rather you scrutinise it than take our word for it.
For data requests, comment, interviews, or corrections — we read everything and usually reply the same day.
hello@dentistalert.co.ukUsage and disclaimers