NHS Dentistry Improving in Somerset but Thousands Still Struggle to Access Care

Access to NHS dentistry is beginning to improve in Somerset, but MPs are warning that major reform is still needed as thousands of people continue to struggle to get treatment.

New figures from NHS Somerset show dental teams delivered around 3% more NHS work during 2025/26 than in the previous year, reversing several years of declining activity following the pandemic.

Around 360,000 units of dental activity, or UDAs, were delivered during the year, approximately 10,000 more than in 2024/25. However, NHS Somerset says the funding available is still expected to provide enough NHS dentistry for only around half of the county’s population.

Three new NHS dental practices have opened in Wellington, Chard and Crewkerne since October 2025. Together, they are expected to provide care for up to 20,000 people each year, with the new services targeted at areas where additional NHS appointments were particularly needed.

Local investment has also included increased payments to encourage dentists to provide NHS treatment, additional urgent appointments, recruitment and retention initiatives and preventative programmes including supervised toothbrushing in primary schools.

Despite the progress, Somerset MPs have continued to raise concerns about the difficulties faced by residents. During a parliamentary debate on NHS dentistry, Yeovil MP Adam Dance said 56% of children in Somerset had not seen an NHS dentist during 2025 and described cases of people going without treatment because they could not obtain an appointment.

MPs from across the county have called for wider reform of the NHS dental contract, arguing that the current system can restrict the amount of NHS work practices provide and leave patients travelling long distances, paying privately or going without routine care.

The government has acknowledged that Somerset faces particularly serious problems with dental access. Care minister Stephen Kinnock described the county as an outlier and said the government remained committed to reforming the dental contract during this Parliament.

National changes introduced this year include requirements for NHS dental practices to provide a proportion of their contracted activity for urgent care, alongside new payment arrangements intended to encourage treatment of people requiring urgent support.

For Somerset, the latest figures suggest the direction is beginning to change after years of declining NHS dental activity. However, with available funding still unable to provide NHS dentistry for a large proportion of residents, the challenge is now turning those early improvements into reliable access to routine care across the county.

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