LONDON, England: The number of dentists registered in the UK has risen once again, reinforcing a positive growth trend seen since 2021. General Dental Council (GDC) data from the renewal period for 2025 showed that 45,580 dentists were registered, a 3.1% increase from last year. However, according to the Association of Dental Groups (ADG), the UK needs a further 3,000 practitioners to align the availability of dentists with the demand for oral care.
According to a GDC report, 793 dentists opted not to renew their registration in 2025, representing 1.7% of the register as of 31 December last year. The figures represent a marked improvement compared with 2024, when 1,004 dentists left the register, and a substantial decrease in the average number of non-renewals, which totalled 2.5% between 2021 and 2024. There are 1,371 more registrations for 2025 than for 2024.
The report states that the registration numbers are an important metric, but cautions that these alone do not offer a complete picture of the dental workforce. Critical issues such as access to National Health Service (NHS) dental care, recruitment challenges and varying working patterns—including full-time versus part-time roles—are not addressed.
As it did in 2024, the GDC is collecting additional data on dentists’ working patterns, hours worked, roles in clinical versus non-clinical settings, and NHS versus private practice engagement. This analysis is expected to be published in the first quarter of this year. Fluctuations in the register do occur throughout the year, and the GDC publishes monthly registration reports.
“Mind the workforce gap,” says the ADG
The UK needs 3,000 more practising dentists, according to a December report by the ADG. The significant shortage was estimated by the association to leave 4.5 million patients wanting for oral care annually. Citing NHS England data, the ADG said that full-time equivalent dentist vacancies in the first quarter of 2024 numbered 3,160. NHS dentist vacancies accounted for 87% of the total dentist vacancies, all of which had remained unfilled for an average of 180 days. A total of 411 private dentist vacancies showed that the problem was system-wide and could not be solved by reforming NHS contracts alone, the report read.
ADG Executive Chair Neil Carmichael commented: “ADG keeps banging the drum for ‘Recruitment. Recruitment. Recruitment—and retention’! Much focus has been put on the need for NHS dentistry contract reform, and whilst this is important, our association’s members know that without the ‘boots on the ground’ in the form of more dentists and dental care professionals the benefits of any new contract simply cannot be brought to life.”
Carmichael continued: “With the UK’s dentistry needs so high, the government’s promise to deliver 700,000 appointments isn’t nearly ambitious enough to fix the current crisis in dentistry.” He said that far more appointments are necessary if patients’ needs are to be addressed and that more must be done “to fulfil the significant number of open vacancies across the UK”.
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