Where Children Can’t Get an NHS Dentist
- NHS dental care is free for everyone under 18 (and under 19 in full-time education), yet only 2,799 of England’s 6,459 NHS practices will currently register a new child.
- The hardest counties to find an NHS dentist for a child right now: Cumbria, Devon, Bristol.
- In 9 English counties, fewer than 1 in 4 NHS practices are accepting new child patients.
- Children still fare better than adults: 43% of practices accept new children vs 30% for adults, and 850 practices accept children only.
- Figures sync daily from official NHS data, so this page updates itself, last refreshed 8 September 2026.
Hardest counties for children
Counties with the lowest share of NHS practices accepting new child patients.
| # | County | Accepting children |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cumbria 5 of 38 practices |
13% |
| 2 | Devon 26 of 147 practices |
18% |
| 3 | Bristol 20 of 103 practices |
19% |
| 4 | Dorset 18 of 90 practices |
20% |
| 5 | Somerset 20 of 96 practices |
21% |
| 6 | Cornwall 8 of 38 practices |
21% |
| 7 | County Durham & Teesside 32 of 145 practices |
22% |
| 8 | North Yorkshire 19 of 84 practices |
23% |
| 9 | Hampshire 41 of 168 practices |
24% |
| 10 | Norfolk 18 of 71 practices |
25% |
Easiest counties for children
Where a child is most likely to be taken on by an NHS dentist.
| # | County | Accepting children |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Midlands 275 of 390 practices |
71% |
| 2 | Staffordshire 48 of 72 practices |
67% |
| 3 | Greater London 698 of 1,097 practices |
64% |
| 4 | Warwickshire 53 of 89 practices |
60% |
| 5 | Greater Manchester 217 of 378 practices |
57% |
| 6 | Berkshire 74 of 146 practices |
51% |
| 7 | Leicestershire 61 of 124 practices |
49% |
| 8 | Hertfordshire 84 of 171 practices |
49% |
| 9 | Essex 89 of 184 practices |
48% |
| 10 | Kent 125 of 262 practices |
48% |
Why this matters
Tooth decay remains one of the most common reasons young children are admitted to hospital in England, and it is almost entirely preventable with routine dental care, care that is free for every child on the NHS. The barrier is not cost but access: a family’s ability to find a practice with the door open. The rankings above show how sharply that access varies by county, and our search shows which practices near you are accepting children today.
How we measure this
finddentist.co.uk tracks the “accepting new patients” status of every NHS dental practice in the NHS Directory of Healthcare Services, synced daily and supplemented by reports from patients between official updates. A county’s rate here is the share of its NHS practices flagged as accepting new child NHS patients, grouped by postcode area (which can straddle county lines). Counties with fewer than 15 practices are excluded so the rankings stay meaningful. We are an independent directory and are not affiliated with the NHS or NHS England.
Journalists & researchers: cite this report
This data is free to use and updates daily. Please credit finddentist.co.uk with a link.
Source: finddentist.co.uk, “Where Children Can’t Get an NHS Dentist, 2026”
https://finddentist.co.uk/children-nhs-dentist-report (accessed 8 September 2026)
Need the children’s figure for a specific county or town for your article? Get in touch, we’re happy to pull it.