NHS dental access in London, borough by borough
Fewer adults see an NHS dentist today than before the pandemic. That is true in every London borough, and not one has gone back to where it was. Children are the other way round: more of them see a dentist now than in 2019. These are the government's own figures, published in August 2026, sorted borough by borough.
Five things in the figures
- London is the second worst region in England. Only 36.9% of London adults saw an NHS dentist in the last two years, about 1 in 3. Across England it is 40.4%. Only the South West does worse.
- Every comparable borough has gone backwards. Wandsworth has fallen furthest: 37.6% of adults were seen before the pandemic, 30.1% now. Even Camden, which held up best, is down from 32.1% to 30.3%.
- Children have recovered; adults have not. Across London, children seen has gone from 50.5% in 2019/20 to 53.7% in 2025/26. Adults have gone from 41.0% to 36.4%.
- More Londoners go to the dentist because something has gone wrong. In Hackney, 17.1% of NHS dental treatments are emergency ones. Across England the usual figure is 9.6%. Every London borough is above it.
- Some of the wealthiest boroughs come off worst. In Westminster only 26.8% of adults saw an NHS dentist, about 1 in 4. Kensington and Chelsea is next at 27.0%. Both are among the wealthiest places in the country.
Only the South West is worse than London
| NHS region | Adults seen |
|---|---|
| South West | 30.6% |
| London | 36.9% |
| South East | 37.0% |
| East of England | 39.0% |
| Midlands | 42.7% |
| North East and Yorkshire | 44.5% |
| North West | 45.5% |
| England | 40.4% |
Adults seen by an NHS dentist in the 24 months to 31 March 2026, as a share of the adult population. London ranks 2 of 7 regions.
Children recovered. Adults did not.
The pandemic closed dental practices to routine care, and both groups fell sharply. Only one of them came back.
| Year | Adults seen | Children seen |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 41.0% | 50.5% |
| 2020/21 | 34.2% | 20.5% |
| 2021/22 | 28.8% | 40.5% |
| 2022/23 | 34.7% | 47.8% |
| 2023/24 | 36.0% | 50.8% |
| 2024/25 | 36.2% | 51.5% |
| 2025/26 | 36.4% | 53.7% |
| 2026/27 | 36.3% | 53.7% |
London totals, weighted by population across the 33 boroughs. Adults are counted over 24 months and children over 12, which is why the pandemic hit the child figure harder and it recovered faster. 2026/27 is a part year.
All 33 boroughs, worst access first
Ranked by adult access, worst first, alongside where each borough stood in 2019/20.
| Borough | Adults seen now | Before the pandemic | Children seen | Urgent care share | Private check-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of London (small population) | 8.9% | 18.2% | 39.4% | 12.5% | £80 |
| Westminster | 26.8% | 32.0% | 42.7% | 16.5% | £90 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 27.0% | 32.3% | 36.3% | 16.1% | £75 |
| Tower Hamlets | 29.1% | 34.4% | 53.6% | 16.6% | £40 |
| Wandsworth | 30.1% | 37.6% | 46.2% | 13.7% | £50 |
| Camden | 30.3% | 32.1% | 47.0% | 14.0% | £65 |
| Newham | 31.2% | 36.8% | 51.5% | 15.9% | £30 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 32.0% | 35.4% | 48.3% | 11.6% | £60 |
| Islington | 32.4% | 38.4% | 52.4% | 14.5% | £80 |
| Barnet | 33.5% | 38.9% | 50.7% | 13.1% | £50 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 34.4% | 38.7% | 48.3% | 15.8% | £60 |
| Merton | 34.9% | 39.4% | 47.3% | 12.5% | £40 |
| Bromley | 35.2% | 37.9% | 57.1% | 11.4% | £60 |
| Brent | 35.9% | 39.0% | 55.5% | 15.2% | £50 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 35.9% | 40.7% | 56.3% | 11.1% | £55 |
| Haringey | 36.2% | 41.0% | 53.6% | 14.6% | £55 |
| Hackney | 36.4% | 42.7% | 51.4% | 17.1% | £40 |
| Hounslow | 36.6% | 40.2% | 59.3% | 13.8% | £50 |
| Harrow | 37.1% | 42.5% | 58.9% | 11.8% | £50 |
| Redbridge | 38.0% | 42.7% | 53.8% | 13.6% | £50 |
| Barking and Dagenham | 38.4% | 44.9% | 49.3% | 14.9% | £45 |
| Ealing | 38.5% | 43.4% | 59.0% | 14.7% | £50 |
| Greenwich | 38.5% | 43.3% | 55.9% | 13.6% | £55 |
| Southwark | 38.6% | 41.8% | 54.3% | 13.8% | £60 |
| Lambeth | 39.1% | 42.3% | 53.8% | 14.6% | £45 |
| Waltham Forest | 39.5% | 43.0% | 57.3% | 14.3% | - |
| Hillingdon | 39.7% | 43.8% | 59.9% | 11.9% | £35 |
| Croydon | 41.0% | 46.4% | 53.0% | 15.1% | £50 |
| Enfield | 41.2% | 47.1% | 53.5% | 13.4% | £50 |
| Sutton | 41.2% | 44.7% | 58.2% | 11.3% | £60 |
| Bexley | 41.6% | 44.9% | 56.3% | 11.6% | £45 |
| Havering | 42.8% | 47.3% | 54.7% | 12.3% | £55 |
| Lewisham | 45.6% | 49.7% | 56.0% | 14.5% | £50 |
Only a few thousand people live in the City of London. Its percentages jump around because the numbers behind them are so small, so we leave it out of the rankings. The private check-up column is the typical starting price at practices in that borough, taken from their own websites. It is our own figure, not part of the NHS data.
Londoners turn up in pain more than the rest of England
Urgent treatment is what you get for an abscess, bad pain or a broken tooth. It costs £27.90, the same as a check-up, however much work it takes. People use it when they cannot get a normal appointment. So when a lot of a borough's NHS dental work is emergency work, it usually means people there are struggling to be seen in the first place.
| Borough | Urgent share | Band 1 (check-ups) share |
|---|---|---|
| Hackney | 17.1% | 40.0% |
| Tower Hamlets | 16.6% | 44.9% |
| Westminster | 16.5% | 40.7% |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 16.1% | 41.5% |
| Newham | 15.9% | 43.2% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 15.8% | 45.9% |
| Brent | 15.2% | 44.3% |
| Croydon | 15.1% | 50.8% |
In a typical part of England, 9.6% of NHS dental treatments are emergency ones. Every London borough is higher than that.
Where an area ranks badly, more of its dentistry is emergency work
The government scores every neighbourhood in England on income, jobs, education, health, crime, housing and local environment, then ranks them from most to least deprived. Grouping those ranks into ten shows the same pattern across the country. Where an area scores worst, more of the NHS dental treatment done there is emergency work and less of it is check-ups.
That is a fact about the treatment, not about the people. A high emergency share can mean more people are in trouble with their teeth. It can also mean routine appointments are harder to get, so the same emergencies make up a bigger share of a smaller total. The figures cannot separate the two, and both are likely playing a part.
That happens in London too, and at every level it is worse here. In the tenth of London that scores worst, 25.9% of NHS dental treatment is emergency work. For equivalent areas elsewhere in England it is 20.4%. Even in the tenth of London that scores best the figure is 12.3%, against 10% nationally.
| Area | England | London |
|---|---|---|
| Most deprived tenth | 20.4% | 25.9% |
| Group 2 | 18.2% | 24.3% |
| Group 3 | 16.9% | 22.4% |
| Group 4 | 15.2% | 20.8% |
| Group 5 | 14% | 19.1% |
| Group 6 | 12.8% | 17.8% |
| Group 7 | 12% | 16.3% |
| Group 8 | 11.3% | 15% |
| Group 9 | 10.8% | 13.7% |
| Least deprived tenth | 10% | 12.3% |
Share of NHS courses of treatment that were urgent, 2025/26. Groups run from the tenth of neighbourhoods the government ranks most deprived to the tenth it ranks least deprived, using its Index of Multiple Deprivation.
The gap across London has widened sharply
Before the pandemic, 12.7% of NHS dental treatment in the most deprived tenth of London was emergency work. In the least deprived tenth it was 8.9%. Today those figures are 25.9% and 12.3%. The most deprived areas have roughly doubled. The least deprived have not.
| Year | Most deprived tenth of London | Least deprived tenth |
|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 12.7% | 8.9% |
| 2020/21 | 38.6% | 24.2% |
| 2021/22 | 21.5% | 12.2% |
| 2022/23 | 20.3% | 11.3% |
| 2023/24 | 26.8% | 12.8% |
| 2024/25 | 26% | 12.4% |
| 2025/26 | 25.9% | 12.3% |
2020/21 is not a fair comparison. Dentists stopped doing routine work during the pandemic, so nearly everything they did was urgent. We have left the year in the table rather than hide it.
One limit worth stating plainly: every figure on this page counts only people who got NHS dental treatment. It says nothing about the people who could not get an appointment at all, and they are likely to be worse off than anyone counted here.
Where these numbers come from
Access figures are from NHSBSA Dental Statistics England 2025/26, published August 2026 under the Open Government Licence. An adult counts as seen if they visited an NHS dentist at any point in the two years to 31 March 2026. For children it is one year. We then compare that against the number of people living in the borough, using official population estimates. Each borough is worked out from where the patient lives, not where the dentist is. Older years are measured the same way.
For London as a whole we use the official figure of 36.9%. If you add up the 33 boroughs yourself you will get a slightly different number, because the government works out the London figure in a different way. Both are correct. They are just not the same measurement, so we do not mix them.
Private prices are our own, taken from practices' published fee pages, and are explained on our dental price list and in the London Dental Cost Index. The analysis behind this page is reproducible from a script in our codebase.
Journalists and researchers are welcome to use these figures with credit to Dentist-London.com and a link to this page. We can supply the borough table as a file, and the same data at ward level, on request through the contact page.