Dental Practice Density Index
England dental desert map: practices per 100,000 people, by region
How many CQC-registered dental practices are there per 100,000 people in each England region? Built from the CQC Care Directory of 2026-07-15 and ONS mid-2024 population estimates, and free to cite with attribution.
- CQC-registered dental locations in England
- 12,035CQC-registered dental locations in England
- dental locations per 100,000 people, England average
- 20.5dental locations per 100,000 people, England average
- per 100,000 in London, the highest of any region
- 26.2per 100,000 in London, the highest of any region
Key findings
- England has 12,035 CQC-registered dental locations, an average of 20.5 per 100,000 people against the ONS mid-2024 population.
- London is the densest region at 26.2 locations per 100,000 people.
- North East is the thinnest at 16.8 per 100,000, a gap of 9.4 per 100,000 against the densest region.
- The CQC directory registers NHS, mixed and private dental locations alike. This is a geographic access measure: it counts practice locations, not individual dentists or dental chairs.
Source: CQC Care Directory (2026-07-15) and ONS Mid-2024 Population Estimates, both under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures may be cited with attribution to Dental Finance Partners.
Dental locations per 100,000 people, by region
The chart ranks England regions by CQC-registered dental locations per 100,000 people. Higher means more practices relative to the local population.
| Region | Dental locations per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| London | 26.2 |
| South East | 23.0 |
| North West | 19.7 |
| South West | 19.4 |
| East of England | 19.1 |
| West Midlands | 18.5 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 18.4 |
| East Midlands | 16.9 |
| North East | 16.8 |
Total dental locations by region
The same directory counted in absolute terms. Regions with large populations naturally hold more practices, which is why the per-100,000 measure is the better access indicator and the raw count is the better capacity one.
| Region | CQC-registered dental locations |
|---|---|
| London | 2,397 |
| South East | 2,220 |
| North West | 1,522 |
| East of England | 1,258 |
| West Midlands | 1,141 |
| South West | 1,139 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 1,039 |
| East Midlands | 855 |
| North East | 461 |
| Unknown | 3 |
Regional breakdown
Every England region with a population denominator, with its location count, its mid-2024 population and the resulting rate.
| Region | Dental locations | Population (mid-2024) | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 2,397 | 9,149,646 | 26.2 |
| South East | 2,220 | 9,638,645 | 23.0 |
| North West | 1,522 | 7,716,106 | 19.7 |
| South West | 1,139 | 5,884,551 | 19.4 |
| East of England | 1,258 | 6,571,030 | 19.1 |
| West Midlands | 1,141 | 6,181,633 | 18.5 |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | 1,039 | 5,656,571 | 18.4 |
| East Midlands | 855 | 5,060,240 | 16.9 |
| North East | 461 | 2,748,748 | 16.8 |
| England (placed regions) | 12,032 | 58,607,170 | 20.5 |
3 of the 12,035 locations in the directory carry no region, so they are in the England total and in no regional rate. The England rate above is computed on the 12,032 placed locations.
Methodology and sources
Dental location data. All location counts come from the CQC Care Directory, a monthly CSV release by the Care Quality Commission. We filter to rows where the Service types column equals exactly 'Dentist', and count by the Region column in the CQC dataset. The CQC registers every dental practice operating in England, whether or not it accepts NHS patients. Counts are point-in-time as at 2026-07-15.
Population data. Regional denominators are ONS Mid-2024 Population Estimates for England regions, published 26 September 2025. The ONS 'East of England' region maps to the CQC 'East' label, which is normalised accordingly.
Caveats. The directory may include locations that have closed or gone inactive but are not yet deregistered. A location is a practice address, not an individual dentist, and practices differ in size. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are regulated by separate bodies (Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, RQIA) and are not included. Data generated 2026-08-03.
- CQC Care Directory (Care Quality Commission)
- Mid-2024 Population Estimates (Office for National Statistics)
Download the density data (CSV)
Free to cite and republish with attribution to Dental Finance Partners. This page is a data summary and does not constitute financial or business advice.
How does practice density affect your finances?
Density shapes patient demand, private fee potential, goodwill values and how attractive an NHS contract is in a given area. Whether you are buying, selling or planning your next move, the local market picture is one of the inputs. Our dental accountants work exclusively with dental professionals, across every region in the table above.
The other three data series
- NHS Dental Activity Recovery IndexMonthly UDA delivery in England against the pre-Covid 2019/20 baseline.
- NHS Dentist Earnings and Expenses TrackerGross earnings, expenses and net income for self-employed NHS dentists.
- Dental Company Formation IndexNew dental limited companies incorporated under SIC 86230, month by month.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a dental desert?
- A dental desert is an area with low access to dental services relative to population. There is no official threshold, but areas with significantly fewer dentists or dental practices per head of population than the England average are commonly described using this term. This index uses CQC-registered dental locations per 100,000 population as the access measure, which is the most granular public data available across England.
- Where does this data come from?
- Dental location counts come from the CQC Care Directory, a monthly release by the Care Quality Commission of all CQC-registered locations in England. We filter to locations where Service types equals 'Dentist'. Population figures are ONS mid-2024 estimates for England regions, published in September 2025. Both datasets are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Does this count all dentists or just practices?
- This counts CQC-registered locations (practices), not individual dentists. A single practice may employ several dentists. The location count is the best publicly available proxy for geographic access. CQC registers both NHS and private practices, so the figures include all dental locations regardless of whether they accept NHS patients. A practice closed or inactive but not yet deregistered may still appear in the CQC directory.
- Why does London have the highest dental density?
- London has the largest absolute number of CQC-registered dental locations of any England region, and one local authority, Westminster, accounts for 268 of them. The published data measures locations and population, not ownership or patient mix, so it shows where practices are rather than why. Access is also uneven within the region: a regional rate averages over boroughs that differ widely from each other.
- What does dental access mean for my practice finances?
- In lower-density regions, NHS contract values may attract more patients, and private pay rates can command a premium due to limited competition. In high-density areas such as London, competition for private patients is higher but patient volumes can also be larger. Understanding the local density picture is one factor in practice valuation, goodwill calculations, and partnership or acquisition decisions. Our dental accountants work with practice principals across all regions.