Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets have the lowest NHS dental access in London. In each of them, fewer than 3 in 10 adults saw an NHS dentist in the 2 years to 31 March 2026. Lewisham has the highest access, at 45.6%.
These figures come from the NHSBSA (the NHS Business Services Authority), which publishes official NHS dental statistics every year. This page uses the 2025/26 release, published in August 2026. An earlier version of this article used 2023/24 figures. Several boroughs have moved a lot since then, so we have rewritten it.
Across London, 36.9% of adults saw an NHS dentist in those 2 years. That means about 6 in 10 London adults did not. The figure for England is 40.4%, so London is below the national level.
What we mean by a dental desert
There is no official definition of a “dental desert”. On this page we use it to mean a borough where a much smaller share of people see an NHS dentist than in the rest of London.
That is not the same as having no dentists. Most London boroughs have plenty of dental practices. The problem is that many of them are private only, and many NHS practices are full. A practice on your street does not help if it will not take you as an NHS patient.
The boroughs with the lowest NHS access
The table shows the share of adults seen by an NHS dentist in the 24 months to 31 March 2026. Rank 1 is the lowest in London.
| Rank | Borough | Adults seen (24 months) | Children seen (12 months) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westminster | 26.8% | 42.7% |
| 2 | Kensington and Chelsea | 27.0% | 36.3% |
| 3 | Tower Hamlets | 29.1% | 53.6% |
| 4 | Wandsworth | 30.1% | 46.2% |
| 5 | Camden | 30.3% | 47.0% |
| 6 | Newham | 31.2% | 51.5% |
| 7 | Richmond upon Thames | 32.0% | 48.3% |
Source: NHSBSA, Dental Statistics England 2025/26. The City of London is left out because so few people live there. Its figure (8.9%) swings a lot from year to year and cannot be compared with the boroughs.
Westminster has the lowest adult figure in London: 26.8%. That is about 1 in 4 adults.
Kensington and Chelsea is almost the same for adults, at 27.0%. It also has the lowest figure for children in London. Only 36.3% of children there saw an NHS dentist in the last year. That is about 1 in 3, even though NHS dental care is free for everyone under 18.
Tower Hamlets is third for adults, at 29.1%. Its child figure (53.6%) is close to the middle of the London range. This gap is common. In every borough, a larger share of children than adults sees an NHS dentist.
Richmond upon Thames is one of London’s wealthiest boroughs, but it ranks seventh lowest for adults, at 32.0%. It sits next to Hounslow (36.6%), so where you live along that border can make a real difference.
The boroughs with the highest NHS access
| Borough | Adults seen (24 months) | Children seen (12 months) |
|---|---|---|
| Lewisham | 45.6% | 56.0% |
| Havering | 42.8% | 54.7% |
| Bexley | 41.6% | 56.3% |
| Sutton | 41.2% | 58.2% |
| Enfield | 41.2% | 53.5% |
| Croydon | 41.0% | 53.0% |
Source: NHSBSA, Dental Statistics England 2025/26.
Lewisham is the only London borough where more than 45% of adults saw an NHS dentist. Most of the other high boroughs are in outer London.
For children, the highest figures are in west London. In Hillingdon, 59.9% of children saw an NHS dentist in the last year. Hounslow (59.3%) and Ealing (59.0%) are close behind.
The figures for all 33 areas are on our NHS dental access in London page.
Every borough is lower than before the pandemic
In every London borough, a smaller share of adults saw an NHS dentist in 2025/26 than in 2019/20. The biggest fall, outside the City of London, was in Wandsworth. There, the figure fell from 37.6% to 30.1%.
Children are different. Across London, a larger share of children saw an NHS dentist in 2025/26 than in 2019/20. For adults, the share is still lower than before the pandemic.
Londoners use more urgent NHS care
In every London borough, a larger share of NHS dental treatment is urgent care than in a typical part of England. Urgent care means treatment for pain, swelling or infection that cannot wait.
In a typical area of England, 9.6% of NHS courses of treatment are urgent. In Hackney it is 17.1%. That is about 1 in 6. Tower Hamlets (16.6%), Westminster (16.5%) and Kensington and Chelsea (16.1%) are close behind.
A high urgent share often means people are not getting regular check-ups. They see a dentist only when something hurts.
Low access does not always mean no NHS places
The NHSBSA figures show how many people were seen. They do not show which practices are taking new patients today. For that, we read every London NHS practice’s page on nhs.uk each week.
On 5 October 2026, 342 of the 779 NHS practices we list in London said they were taking new adult NHS patients. That is 44%. The picture varies a lot by borough:
- Tower Hamlets: 2 of 22 NHS practices said they were taking new adults.
- Newham: 4 of 23.
- Sutton: 1 of 16, even though Sutton is in the top 5 for access.
- Westminster: 20 of 31, even though it has the lowest access in London.
So a borough with low access may still have practices with space, and a borough with high access may have very few. Practices update these pages themselves, and the status can change at short notice. Always call the practice to check.
What the April 2026 contract changes mean
The NHS dental contract changed on 1 April 2026. Every NHS practice must now use part of its contract for urgent care. The minimum is 8.2% of the contract’s value. The payment to practices for each urgent course of treatment also went up, to about £75. Our guide to the NHS dental contract reforms explains the changes.
This should make urgent appointments easier to get. It does not change routine care. Each practice still decides for itself whether to take new NHS patients for check-ups and ongoing treatment.
What you can do if you live in a low-access borough
- Look outside your borough. There are no catchment areas for NHS dentists. You can ask any NHS practice to take you, in any borough. A practice in the next borough may be closer to you than one in your own.
- Look near your work. A practice near your workplace may have places when the ones near home do not.
- Check which practices are taking patients. Our NHS dentists in London page shows what each practice reports on nhs.uk. Our guide on how to find an NHS dentist in London has more steps.
- For urgent problems, call NHS 111. They can help you get an urgent NHS appointment. It costs £27.90 (the Band 1 charge) unless you get free NHS dental care. Our emergency dentist page lists practices that offer urgent appointments.
- Consider a dental school. Guy’s Hospital (King’s College London) offers free routine treatment by supervised students to adults aged 18 and over, during term time. The Royal London Dental Hospital (Barts and Queen Mary) offers free student treatment to people aged 16 and over. Appointments are longer than at a normal practice, and there may be a waiting list. The Guy’s student clinic does not treat emergencies.
Where the figures come from
All borough figures on this page come from NHSBSA, Dental Statistics England 2025/26, published August 2026. Adults are counted if they saw an NHS dentist at any time in the 24 months to 31 March 2026. Children are counted over 12 months. Each figure is a share of the people who live in that borough, wherever they went to the dentist.
The London figure of 36.9% is NHSBSA’s official figure for the London region. It is calculated slightly differently from the borough figures, so it is not an average of them.
The figures on which practices are taking new patients come from each practice’s page on nhs.uk. We read these pages every week. The numbers above are from 5 October 2026.
NHSBSA data is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Frequently asked questions
Which London borough has the best NHS dental access?
Lewisham. In the 2 years to 31 March 2026, 45.6% of adults there saw an NHS dentist. For children, Hillingdon is highest, at 59.9% seen in the last year.
Which London borough has the worst NHS dental access?
Westminster, where 26.8% of adults saw an NHS dentist in 2 years. Kensington and Chelsea (27.0%) is almost the same. Kensington and Chelsea also has the lowest figure for children, at 36.3%. The City of London has a lower figure, but so few people live there that it cannot be compared fairly.
Is London a dental desert?
Not as a whole, but London has lower NHS access than England overall. 36.9% of London adults saw an NHS dentist in 2 years, against 40.4% in England. Some inner London boroughs are much lower, at under 30%.
Why can’t I find an NHS dentist when there are practices near me?
Many London practices are private only. Many NHS practices are full and not taking new adults. On 5 October 2026, 44% of London NHS practices said they were taking new adult patients. Check the NHS status of practices near you, and call NHS 111 if you need urgent care.
Practice acceptance figures can change at short notice. Always check with the practice before you go.