You can go to any NHS dental practice in London. There are no catchment areas, and you do not register with a dentist the way you register with a GP. The hard part is finding a practice that has space.
Some practices do have space. On 5 October 2026, 342 of the 779 NHS practices we list in London said on the NHS website that they were taking new adult patients. That is about 4 in 10. For children, 429 practices said yes, which is more than half. A “yes” on the website does not always mean an appointment soon, so the steps below include what to ask when you phone.
If you are in pain now, go straight to step 5 and call NHS 111.
Step 1: Make a shortlist of practices
Our NHS dentists in London page lists NHS practices in every borough. It shows each practice’s latest status for new adult and child patients. We read that status from each practice’s page on nhs.uk every week. You can also search the NHS website yourself with its “Find a dentist” tool.
Practices update their nhs.uk page themselves, and some do it rarely. Use the list to decide who to call. Do not treat it as a promise of a place.
Step 2: Phone the practices
Phone rather than email. A phone call gets you an answer the same day. Ask these questions:
- “Are you taking new adult NHS patients?” Ask about children if you are calling for a child.
- “When is the first NHS appointment for a new patient?”
- If the answer is no: “Do you keep a waiting list, and how long is it?”
Some practices take new NHS patients only on certain days, or only children or pregnant women. The nhs.uk page does not always say this, so ask. If a practice has a waiting list, join it, and keep calling other practices. Places open up when patients move away.
Step 3: Look in other boroughs
You can use an NHS dentist near your home, near your work, or anywhere else in London. The chance of finding a place is very different from one borough to the next. In our October 2026 check, these boroughs had the highest share of NHS practices taking new adults:
- Lewisham: 20 of 27 NHS practices
- Kensington and Chelsea: 14 of 19
- Southwark: 15 of 21
- Hammersmith and Fulham: 15 of 22
These had the lowest share:
- Sutton: 1 of 16
- Tower Hamlets: 2 of 22
- Newham: 4 of 23
- Bromley: 6 of 35
There is no simple inner or outer London pattern. Some central boroughs have many practices saying yes. In Westminster it was 20 of 31. If you work in central London, a practice near your office may be easier to get into than one near your home.
Each borough has its own page, for example NHS dentists in Lewisham or NHS dentists in Westminster. You can also browse the south London and east London directories. For how many adults actually saw an NHS dentist in each borough, see our NHS dental access in London data.
Step 4: Contact your Integrated Care Board
An Integrated Care Board (ICB) is the local NHS organisation that pays for dental services in your area. To find yours, search for “ICB” and the name of your borough.
If you have phoned many practices and none can see you, contact your ICB’s patient services team. They cannot always find you a place. They can tell you what NHS dental services exist in your area. They are also the right place to complain if you cannot get NHS dental care.
Step 5: Call NHS 111 if you are in pain
If you have toothache, swelling or a broken tooth, call 111 or use 111.nhs.uk. They will ask about your symptoms and tell you where to get urgent NHS dental care, and how soon. You do not need a regular dentist to use this service. Urgent NHS treatment costs £27.90, unless you get free NHS treatment.
Since April 2026, every practice with an NHS contract must keep part of its NHS work for urgent patients. So a practice that is not taking new patients may still see you for urgent care. Our emergency dentist page lists other options in London.
Urgent care treats the immediate problem. It does not give you a regular NHS dentist, so keep going with steps 1 to 4. Go to A&E only if swelling affects your breathing or swallowing, bleeding will not stop, or you have a serious injury to your face.
If you still cannot find an NHS dentist
Check whether you pay at all. Some people get NHS dental treatment free. This includes under-18s, pregnant women, women who had a baby in the last 12 months, and people on certain benefits. If money is tight but you do not get a benefit, apply to the NHS Low Income Scheme on form HC1. You may get an HC2 certificate (free treatment) or an HC3 certificate (help with part of the cost). Our guide is the NHS dentist free? explains who qualifies, and our NHS dental charges guide shows what each band costs.
Go private for check-ups while you wait. A private check-up in London usually starts at about £55. That is the median (middle) figure of the starting prices London practices publish on their own websites. Our dental price list has typical prices for other treatment. A check-up every year or two can find problems while they are still small and cheaper to fix. Some practices offer monthly payment plans, which we compare in Denplan vs pay as you go.
Ask a dental hospital. London has 3 dental schools: King’s College London (at Guy’s and King’s College Hospital), Queen Mary University of London (at the Royal London Dental Hospital) and UCL (at the Eastman Dental Hospital). Dental students treat some patients under the supervision of qualified dentists. Places are limited, appointments are long, and the hospitals choose patients whose treatment suits teaching. Some need a referral from a dentist. Contact the hospital to ask how it works.
Keep your name on waiting lists. Practices do reopen to new NHS patients. Phone again every few weeks.
For more ways to keep costs down, see our guide to affordable dental care in London.
Why it is hard to get an NHS dentist in London
Each NHS practice has a contract for a fixed amount of NHS work each year. When that work is used up, the practice cannot take more NHS patients, even if it has free appointments. Many dentists also say the NHS pays too little to cover the cost of care, so they do more private work instead.
The government has started to change this. From April 2026, practices must keep part of their NHS work for urgent care. From June 2026, adults with a lot of decay or gum disease can be treated on a “care pathway”, a planned course of treatment over 6 to 12 months. The government has also promised more dentists from 2027 and a new NHS dental contract. We cover these changes in finding an NHS dentist in London in 2026 and in our guide to the 2026 NHS dental contract changes.
NHS availability changes every week. Always phone the practice to confirm before you go.