What it means: England has no registration with a dentist, so there is no official count of people who 'have' an NHS dentist. This is the standard measure of access: the share of adults who were actually seen by an NHS dentist in the previous two years. About 60% of children were seen in the last year. People who use private dentists, or who tried and failed to get an NHS appointment, are not counted. A change of one point or more counts.

Source: NHS Business Services Authority, NHS dental statistics for England 2025/26, table 4b.