Correction notices – the following notices have been made with regard to dental statistics for England 2023/24
Date of notice: 5 November 2024 - Workforce data re-released, 2019/20 to 2023/24 Annual summary statistics
We have identified an error with the underlying data for the dental workforce summary tables. We have replaced the workforce Excel (XLSX) file and workforce comma-separated values (CSV) files with the corrected data.
These tables also now include joiners and leavers data at a sub-national level which was omitted from the initial release due to data quality issues.
The statistical summary narrative has been updated to include the corrected workforce data. We have also added patients seen data to June 2024 for the national and geographical patients seen CSV files.
Date of notice: 27 August 2024 - Table 1f was omitted from the national summary tables
Table 1f contains data on courses of treatment by patient exemption type, treatment band, and financial year.
You can find more details about these notices on our correction notices page.
Published 22 August 2024. Updated 5 November 2024.
Publication
Dental statistics – England 2023/24 - statistical summary narrative (HTML)
Summary
This release is the first in the series to be produced by the NHSBSA. Previous releases were produced by NHS England (formerly NHS Digital) and can be found on the NHS England webpage.
The NHS dental statistics annual publication provides details of dental activity and dental workforce data for NHS dental treatment in England.
This release includes information on the number of patients seen by an NHS dentist, as well as NHS dental activity presented down to dental contract level. It also includes data on clinical treatments, orthodontic activity, patient eligibility and charges, and dental workforce. Additional breakdowns are provided at regional, local authority (LA), and integrated care board (ICB) level. Workforce data is also be provided down to sub-integrated care board (SICB) level.
You can find more details on what is covered by the data in the statistical summary narrative or the background and methodology document provided.
Key findings
In England in 2023/24:
- there were 34 million courses of dental treatment delivered, 4.3% more than 2022/23
- there were 18 million adult patients seen in the 24 months up to the end of March 2024
- total units of dental activity increased by 3.4% from 2022/23, up to 73 million
- there were 6.6 million child patients seen in the 12 months up to the end of March 2024
- 31% of adult courses of treatment included scale and polish
- 56% of courses of treatment for children included fluoride varnish clinical treatment
- there were 24,200 dentists who performed NHS dental activity
Resource list
NHS Dental Statistics for England - 2023/24: National overview summary tables (Excel: 137KB)NHS Dental Statistics for England - 2023/24: Geographical breakdown summary tables (Excel: 237KB)NHS Dental Statistics for England - 2023/24: Workforce overview summary tables (Excel: 169KB)
Dental background and methodology document
The zip folders of CSV files in the expander link contain the most granular dental data for this release. Metadata and notes for the data in these files can be found in the metadata file for dental CSV files.
Metadata file for dental CSV files 2023/24 (Excel: 42KB)
Pre-release access list (HTML)
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Contact us
If you have any questions, comments, or would like more information you can email statistics@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.
Responsible statistician: Grace Libby