The headline: 12,035 dental practices, but the map is uneven
England has 12,035 CQC-registered dental locations. Set against an ONS mid-2024 population of roughly 57.75 million, that is an average of 20.8 dental locations per 100,000 people.[1] That single national figure is the number most people would quote if asked how well England is served by dentists. It is also close to useless on its own, because provision is not spread evenly across the country.
At the top of the distribution, London has 24.6 CQC-registered dental locations per 100,000 population. At the bottom, the East Midlands has 17.2.[1] That is a gap of more than seven practices per 100,000 people between the best and worst served regions, a spread of over 40% relative to the thinner region. For a practice owner, a buyer, or an associate weighing where to work, that difference is the story, not the national average.
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This article maps dental provision across the nine English regions, explains precisely what the density measure captures and what it misses, and sets out why the regional picture belongs in any serious conversation about practice value and location strategy. The full dataset, including a downloadable CSV and the top local authorities within each region, sits in our Dental Practice Density Index.[1]
Dental density by region: the full ranking
The table below ranks the nine English regions by CQC-registered dental locations per 100,000 population. The location counts come from the CQC Care Directory; the population denominators are ONS mid-2024 estimates. Both are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.[1][2][3]
| Region | Dental locations | Population (mid-2024) | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 2,397 | 9,748,000 | 24.6 |
| South East | 2,220 | 9,263,000 | 24.0 |
| North West | 1,522 | 7,480,000 | 20.4 |
| East of England | 1,258 | 6,370,000 | 19.8 |
| South West | 1,139 | 5,778,000 | 19.7 |
| West Midlands | 1,141 | 5,950,000 | 19.2 |
| Yorkshire and Humberside | 1,039 | 5,547,000 | 18.7 |
| North East | 461 | 2,657,000 | 17.4 |
| East Midlands | 855 | 4,960,000 | 17.2 |
| England (all known regions) | 12,035 | 57,753,000 | 20.8 |
Two clusters are visible. London and the South East sit clearly above the national average, both close to 24 to 25 practices per 100,000. The remaining seven regions all sit below the national average of 20.8, tightening into a band between roughly 17 and 20. The East Midlands (17.2) and the North East (17.4) are the two thinnest-provisioned regions in England, and together they define what a dental desert looks like at regional scale.
Why London and the South East lead
London's 24.6 locations per 100,000 is not primarily an NHS phenomenon. The capital combines a dense, mobile, and comparatively high-income population with a large private dental market, and CQC registers private practices alongside NHS and mixed ones. Westminster alone accounts for over 260 CQC-registered dental locations, more than the whole of some smaller local authorities, reflecting a concentration of private and specialist practices in central London.[1]
The South East, at 24.0 per 100,000, follows the same logic on a wider geography: affluent commuter belts, a large population, and strong private demand. Within the region the largest concentrations of dental locations sit in the big shire counties, with Kent (360 locations) and Surrey (353) leading.[1] The pattern in both regions is that high density tracks private-market strength as much as it tracks NHS provision.
Where provision is thinnest
The East Midlands has 855 CQC-registered dental locations for a population of around 4.96 million, giving 17.2 per 100,000, the lowest of any English region. The North East is close behind at 17.4 per 100,000, with just 461 locations serving 2.66 million people. Yorkshire and Humberside (18.7) and the West Midlands (19.2) complete the below-average group most likely to feature in access discussions.[1]
Low density does not automatically mean low opportunity. The relationship between provision and practice economics runs in both directions. In a region with fewer competing practices per head, an individual practice can more easily sustain a full patient list, retain private patients who have limited alternatives, and hold a fuller NHS commitment. A dental desert for patients can be a defensible market position for an incumbent practice. What matters for a specific practice is not the regional average but its own catchment, contract, and fee mix.
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What density does not tell you
The density measure has three important limits, and reading it without them will mislead you.
- It counts locations, not dentists. A single CQC-registered location may house one dentist or a dozen. Two regions with identical location density can differ substantially in the number of chairs and clinicians available. Density is a proxy for the geographic spread of practices, not for total clinical capacity.
- It does not distinguish NHS from private. CQC registers all dental locations regardless of whether they accept NHS patients. A high-density region can have poor NHS access if most of its capacity is private, which is part of the London story. To understand NHS availability specifically, density has to be read alongside NHS activity data. Our regional breakdown of NHS dental activity covers that dimension.
- It includes inactive registrations. The CQC directory may retain locations that have closed or paused but not yet deregistered, which can modestly inflate a region's count. The measure is a robust ranking tool rather than a precise census of open, trading practices.
What the regional picture means for practice value
Local market density is one of several inputs into what a dental practice is worth and whether it is a sound acquisition. It is not a verdict on its own, but it sharpens two questions that drive valuation.
The first is demand durability. In a lower-density region, a practice with an established patient list faces less risk of patients drifting to a nearby competitor, which supports the stability of both NHS and private income. That stability feeds goodwill. In a high-density region such as London or the South East, patient volumes can be large, but so is competition for private patients, and staff and premises costs are higher. Neither profile is inherently more valuable; they carry different risk shapes, and a valuation should reflect that.
The second is fee ceiling. Private fee levels are set by what the local market will bear, which is influenced by local incomes and by how much competing supply exists. A practice in a thinly provisioned, moderate-income area may have a lower absolute fee ceiling than a central London practice, but also far less price competition. Reading density alongside local income data helps sense-check whether the fee-growth assumptions behind a valuation are realistic.
This is why regional density belongs in due diligence rather than in a headline. When we work through a practice valuation or a goodwill assessment for a buyer, the local market picture is part of testing whether the patient-demand and fee assumptions hold, not a substitute for the practice's own numbers.
Using the data
The full dataset behind this article, including all nine regions, the raw location counts, the per-100,000 figures, and the top local authorities within each region, is published in our Dental Practice Density Index, with a CSV download for anyone who wants to work with the underlying numbers. The data is compiled from the CQC Care Directory and ONS population estimates under the Open Government Licence v3.0 and is free to cite with attribution to Dental Finance Partners.[1]
If you are weighing where to buy, whether to expand, or what your practice is worth in its local market, the regional density picture is a useful starting frame. The decisive work, though, is on the individual practice: its patient base, its contract, its fee mix, and its cost structure. Our dental accountants build that local market context into every practice valuation and acquisition review.
Sources
- Dental Finance Partners Dental Practice Density Index, July 2026 data. England total 12,035 CQC-registered dental locations; 20.8 per 100,000 population; London highest at 24.6 per 100,000 (2,397 locations); East Midlands lowest at 17.2 per 100,000 (855 locations); North East 17.4 (461 locations). Available at: /research/dental-practice-density. Compiled from CQC and ONS data under OGL v3.0. Retrieved 2026-07-20.
- Care Quality Commission. CQC Care Directory. Published at cqc.org.uk. Location counts as at 15 July 2026, filtered to dental service types. Published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Office for National Statistics. Mid-2024 Population Estimates. Published September 2025 at ons.gov.uk. Used as the regional population denominators. Published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.