NHS dental treatment in Wales remains 40% below pre-pandemic levels

New Welsh Government figures reveal that NHS dental treatment in Wales remains 40.3% below pre-pandemic levels. In the 2025-26 financial year, approximately 1.4 million courses of treatment were recorded, a decrease of 1.7% compared to the previous year.

While access for children showed slight improvement—with 50.5% of the child population receiving treatment compared to 8.1 percentage points lower than pre-pandemic levels—adult access remains significantly lower. Approximately 40.6% of adults in Wales were treated by an NHS dentist in the two years leading up to March 2026, which is 11.3 percentage points below 2020 levels.

Data also indicates a growing trend of residents in North Wales seeking dental care in England. In the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board area, 9.3% of adults treated by an NHS dentist were seen at practices in England, up from 6.1% in the period ending March 2019. This shift is attributed to a decline in the number of patients treated within Wales rather than an increase in people crossing the border.