In Peterborough, just one adult in five has seen an NHS dentist in the past two years. That is the finding of a report published in October 2026 by Unity Trust Bank, which analysed NHS Business Services Authority data for all 543 parliamentary constituencies in England. Peterborough's adult access rate of 20.2% was the lowest in the country — half the national average of about 40%. Plymouth followed close behind, with Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View both at 23.1%. The report was published as part of the Daily Mirror's Dentists for All campaign, and it gives the clearest picture yet of where NHS dentistry has thinned out most.
The pattern is not a scattering of bad postcodes. It is geographic. Six of the eight constituencies with the lowest access rates for both adults and children are in the South West. In Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, the child access rate was 43.6% — fewer than half of children seen by an NHS dentist.
One patient: seven years, three teeth
Linda Colla, 76, a retired charity manager from Devon, had been calling around NHS practices for seven years trying to get an appointment, and had been left on waiting lists. The Daily Mirror visited her in Devon in 2025 as part of its reports from one of Britain's worst dentistry deserts. Her gums were so inflamed and painful she could only eat baby food and soup. In the end, she pulled out her last three teeth herself. "My gums were so painful I couldn't eat anything solid. In the end I just pulled my teeth out," she told the Mirror's health editor Martin Bagot. "I must have called about a dozen NHS dentists and I'm willing to travel 20 miles but I can't get in anywhere."
Without the three teeth to anchor it, her lower denture plate would not fit. She paid a private dentist £200 to have it adapted — as she put it, a week's pension gone in one fell swoop — and faced a bill of £1,500 for new dentures. She receives pension credit, which would entitle her to free NHS dental treatment if she could get it. "I'm a pensioner and I should have free NHS dental treatment but I can't get it, despite all the years I've paid into the NHS through taxes and National Insurance contributions," she said.
Her local MP, Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, told the Mirror that not a single dentist in South Devon was taking on new NHS patients. Linda's case is extreme, but the BDA has taken it up precisely because it is not unique. Writing in November 2025, BDA chair Eddie Crouch called do-it-yourself dentistry "a stain on the nation".
Why the map looks like this
Dentists and patient groups point to a system under strain, and the BDA's own numbers explain why practices turn NHS patients away. The BDA's own evidence puts the loss at £7.69 on a simple new-patient examination and £42.60 on a set of dentures, and it estimates practices are losing at least £332 million a year delivering treatment at a loss under the current NHS contract, which dates from 2006. When every NHS patient treated at those rates loses the practice money, taking on large numbers of new NHS patients is not a business decision a practice can afford — and some have reduced their NHS work or moved fully to private care.
Recruitment sharpens the geography. In rural and coastal towns, practices struggle to attract dentists, especially where transport links are limited. The South West, where access is worst, illustrates the point: the 58 places currently offered at Peninsular Dental School in Plymouth appear to have done little to take the edge off the region's chronic access issues, according to the BDA.
What the numbers cost patients
The cost of going without is not only pain. Untreated problems worsen, leading to infection, difficulty eating and time off work or school. Children who miss check-ups lose early advice on brushing, diet and prevention. Older people and those with long-term health conditions face particular risks when dental problems go untreated. When routine care disappears, small problems become emergencies — and emergencies are where the NHS ends up paying anyway, through urgent dental services, GPs and hospital emergency departments.
The price gap is stark. NHS dental charges in England are fixed in three bands, the same at every NHS practice, last set on 1 April 2026 according to the NHS Business Services Authority: Band 1, £27.90, for an examination, diagnosis, X-rays and scale and polish; Band 2, £76.60, for fillings, root canal treatment and extractions; and Band 3, £332.10, for crowns, dentures and bridges. That is the maximum charge for a single course of treatment. Private treatment for the same work can cost several times as much, and for families on tight budgets it may simply be out of reach.
What the BDA says would change it
The British Dental Association has warned that the 50 new dental school places confirmed by the government — 25 at the University of Portsmouth and 25 at the University of East Anglia, both offering dentistry for the first time from 2027 — stand little chance of easing the crisis without comprehensive reform. "New dental schools are a step forward but are no silver bullet for ending dental deserts," BDA chair Eddie Crouch said on 3 June 2026. "Keeping even this tiny number of new graduates in the NHS hinges on making the service a place dentists would choose to build a career. That means real reform, wedded to sustainable funding." The BDA notes the new places are on track to represent less than 2% of new registrants.
The Mirror reported that the government has increased the NHS dental budget in England to £3.5 billion for 2024/25 and has committed to reforming the NHS dental contract. Until that reform lands, the map is unlikely to change quickly.
What to do if you need a dentist now
For patients searching now, the practical steps are narrow but worth taking. Check the NHS "Find a dentist" service regularly, as availability changes when practices take on new patients — and call practices directly as well, because not every practice keeps its listing up to date. Ask to join waiting lists where they exist, and leave your details even if the list is long. If you are in pain, have swelling or a broken tooth, call NHS 111 for urgent dental help rather than waiting for a routine appointment. Pension Credit and HC2 certificates entitle the holder to free NHS dental treatment, and the fixed band charges above are the maximum anyone pays for a single course of treatment. None of that replaces a working system. The October 2026 figures show the gap is not between good areas and slightly worse ones — it is between places where four in ten adults are seen, and places where only two in ten are.