NHS dentistry is still struggling to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, figures revealed today.

Data shows that 37.6 million courses of NHS treatment were delivered in 2025-26, 6.2 per cent more than the year before but 1.2m fewer than in 2019-20.

Only 40 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of children accessed treatment.

It follows data from Nuffield Trust showing that one in 10 dental practices in England have abandoned their NHS contracts since March 2017.

British Dental Association (BDA) chair Eddie Crouch said the figures show how “far from ‘normal’ we remain,” adding: “What these figures show is NHS dentistry has not bounced back.

“Even before Covid struck, underfunding and failed contracts meant in ‘normal’ times this service was beset by access problems, with millions unable to access basic care.

“It’s for government to choose if they actually want better for patients.”

Toothless in England founder Mark Jones said: “Not one English region has gotten adult NHS dentistry back to where it stood at the end of 2019.

“That is not a recovery. That is successive governments tinkering while the lists stayed closed.

“They all promised contract reform, more dentists, urgent care, a service that works. What arrived on the ground was the same failed contract, closed lists and another official release dressed up as progress.

“A 6 per cent rise in courses of treatment does not reopen the door for the millions of adults still locked out and it does nothing for the rural and coastal communities this service has already abandoned.”

He said the government has a choice between funding new NHS contracts or “admit that universal NHS dentistry has been abandoned.”