What our monitoring of every NHS dental practice in England shows right now. Honest, dated, and free to cite with attribution.
Data correct as of 14 October 2026 at 23:33 (UK time)
5,799
NHS practices monitored
Every NHS dental practice listed on NHS.uk, England-wide
1,991
Accepting new adult patients
34% of monitored practices
2,922
Accepting new child patients
50% of monitored practices
21
Openings detected — last 7 days
Practices that started accepting at least one patient group
143
Openings detected — last 30 days
Practices that started accepting at least one patient group
674
Community reports — last 30 days
1,879 reports from real callers all-time
Practices we monitor in each region and how many are currently accepting new NHS patients, per the latest NHS.uk status we hold. Click a region to browse its practices.
| Region | Practices monitored | Accepting adults | Accepting children | % accepting adults |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | 990 | 546 | 690 | 55% |
| South East | 864 | 251 | 395 | 29% |
| North West | 739 | 217 | 331 | 29% |
| West Midlands | 572 | 336 | 416 | 59% |
| East of England | 532 | 176 | 279 | 33% |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 517 | 89 | 189 | 17% |
| South West | 407 | 64 | 99 | 16% |
| East Midlands | 343 | 108 | 167 | 31% |
| North East | 236 | 43 | 98 | 18% |
Practices without a mapped region (small villages and unmapped postcodes) are counted in the headline figures but not in the regional rows.
We check every NHS dental practice listed on the NHS.uk find-a-dentist website once a week in a full weekend sweep, and practices near our members’ saved postcodes every weeknight. Practice details come from the official NHS Service Search API, accepting status from our checks of NHS.uk, and additional signals from community reports submitted by people who phone practices. Full methodology here.
“Openings detected” counts practices that changed from not accepting to accepting at least one patient group (adults, children, or free dental care) between two of our checks. Because NHS.uk relies on practices updating their own listings, all accepting figures reflect the latest published status — which can lag the on-the-ground truth. That gap is the reason DentistAlert exists.
Citing these figures: journalists and researchers are welcome to use this page with attribution to “DentistAlert (dentistalert.co.uk)”. The page regenerates roughly hourly; figures above were generated on 14 October 2026 at 23:33 (UK time). For custom regional breakdowns, see our press page or email hello@dentistalert.co.uk.
Contains public sector information from the NHS Service Search API and the NHS.uk find-a-dentist website, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. DentistAlert is not affiliated with the NHS.
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