As the British Dental Association prepare to sit down with the new team at the Department of Health and Social Care, dentists across England are expressing real doubts whether Government will deliver on its promises.
According to a new temperature check survey of dentists in England [1]:
Following recent tweaks to the NHS contract just 1% of dentists say they are likely to increase the volume of NHS work they do. Almost two thirds (63%) say they will reduce it.
Only 10% of dentists believe these changes have made NHS dentistry better.
Less than 1 in 10 believe the new government is likely to deliver fundamental reform of NHS dentistry. Four fifths do not agree it’s likely to meet patient need, fund the service properly, or deliver a comprehensive workforce plan.
The news follows recent analysis from the Nuffield Trust showing one in ten dental practices in England have abandoned their NHS contracts since March 2017. [2] This includes a loss of 135 NHS practices since 2024, the year Labour came to power.
The professional body has urged the Department of Health to double down, and deliver promised reform of NHS dentistry, together with sustainable funding. The government failed to keep its pledge to put its vision of fundamental reform of the struggling service to public consultation this summer. While former ministers have made tweaks to the discredited contract fuelling the crisis in the service, to date not a penny of new investment has been committed to the rebuild.
BDA analysis of official data published earlier this summer indicates that unmet need for NHS dentistry in 2025/26 remains near record highs, at well over 13 million, or over 1 in 4 of England’s adult population. [3]
Shiv Pabary, Chair of the British Dental Association’s General Dental Practice Committee, said:
“Fixing NHS dentistry remains unfinished business.
“Tweaks at the margins simply haven’t changed the fundamentals. Millions still have no options, and demoralised dentists are still walking away.
“Before the last election Labour told us the cavalry was coming. The longer this profession is left to wait, the less of a service there will be left to save.”
Notes to editors:
[1] BDA survey of General Dental Practitioners in England. Online fieldwork 4-13 September 2026, 415 respondents.
Q. Overall, following recent changes to the NHS contract, are you likely to change your NHS commitment?
Increase my NHS commitment | 1% |
Keep my NHS commitment the same | 36% |
Reduce my NHS commitment | 63% |
Q. Overall, do you agree or disagree that these changes have made NHS dentistry better?
Response | Percentage |
|---|---|
Strongly agree | 0.5% |
Agree* | 9.7% |
Neither agree nor disagree | 25.8% |
Disagree | 27.8% |
Strongly disagree | 36.2% |
Net agree | 10.1% |
Net disagree | 64.0% |
Q. A new Government has now been formed, do you agree or disagree that it is likely to:
Strongly agree | Agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | Net Agree | Net disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deliver a fundamental break from the Unit of Dental Activity (UDA) | 6% | 4% | 18% | 29% | 44% | 9% | 73% |
Fund NHS dentistry sustainably | 10% | 3% | 10% | 27% | 51% | 12% | 78% |
Meet patient need for NHS dental care | 8% | 3% | 9% | 25% | 55% | 11% | 80% |
Provide a fully funded workforce plan for dentistry | 9% | 3% | 7% | 24% | 57% | 12% | 81% |
[2] See: The great extraction: the changing state of NHS general dental services in England | Nuffield Trust
[3] Analysis of the GP Survey 2026 by Ipsos by the BDA. Data extrapolated to adult population (16+) using most recent ONS mid-year figures available at time of fieldwork.
4.7m adult patients tried and failed to secure NHS care in the last 2 years – a fall of a 600,000 on last year’s figures, but with a surge in the number of people who have effectively given up trying, with the number of people not even attempting to make appointments as they didn’t think they could secure care up by 300,000 to 6.2 million. The costs of care remain a major issue, pushing 1.3 million away, and over 800,000 indicated they were on waiting lists.