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Dental Services: Pilot Schemes

Asked by Mr Will ForsterLiberal DemocratDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 9 January 2026UIN 89980

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will assess the effectiveness of the urgent care dental pilot project.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock

We have asked the integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.

These appointments are available across the country, with specific expectations for each region. These appointments are more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most.

We are also incentivising high street dentists to offer even more appointments to maximise the availability to those in need of urgent care.

Data on the delivery of urgent dental care will be published annually as part of the NHS Dental Statistics England Official Statistics series. These statistics are released each August and are the primary source of data on the delivery of National Health Service dental care.

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