More seeing NHS dentists despite 'challenges'

The number of people in Thames Valley seeing a NHS dentist is at its highest since 2022, according to a new report.

The Thames Valley Integrated Care Board (ICB) said the number of adults and children accessing NHS dental services grew by nearly 30%, from just under 617,000 in February 2022 to just under 794,000 in August 2025.

However, a councillor in Wantage warned that the town is among the "dental deserts" - areas with no access to NHS dentists at all.

The ICB said it had commissioned four new dental practices in areas of Oxfordshire where practices had stopped providing NHS appointments since the pandemic.

The Thames Valley ICB covers Buckingshamshire, West Berkshire and Oxfordshire, and decides how to spend the NHS budget in those areas.

In a report to Oxfordshire County Council's Health and Scrutiny Overview Committee (HOSC) it said more people in the region were getting access to dentists since it took over responsibility for dental services from NHS England in 2022.

However, it said that "significant challenges" remained, including waiting times for specialist treatments performed outside regular dentist surgeries.

The report said: "There have been significant improvements in access to and delivery of dental services since the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Contract delivery and access to services has been increasing over the last few years."

The report also acknowledged the number of individual patients attending was still "some way" below the pre-pandemic levels.

A survey by Wantage Town Council last summer found nearly a third of 182 respondents (32%) were not registered with an NHS dentist.

It found 82% of those said it was due to not being able to find an NHS dentist that was accepting new patients.

Ward councillor on Vale of the White Horse Coucil, Andy Crawford said Wantage's new housing developments meant more dental surgeries were urgently needed.

"Thames Valley ICB has done nothing in the Wantage and Grove area despite the very significant housing growth," he said.

"I'd like them to acknowledge the particular problem that Wantage and Grove has, and do something about it."

Veronica Barry, executive director of Healthwatch Oxfordshire, said there had been progress but those living in more rural areas were struggling.

"People are having to travel long distances to find a dentist, which is obviously costly for some, and [others] have talked about the costs of having to go private."

However, Barry said several areas, such as Witney, Milton, Chipping Norton and Faringdon, either had new practices planned or already set up.

The ICB report also said it had missed government targets to deliver 700,000 per year urgent appointments between April 2025 and March 2026, as did every other ICB in the country.

The report also said efforts were being made to support dental practices with taking on new patients, and to roll out prevention schemes including for children's oral health.

So-called "golden hello" payments for dentists were also being used to attract staff.

In a statement, the ICB said in the last year "there has been a focus on urgent dental appointments and a number were made available through selected dental practices".

It has not yet replied to a BBC request for a comment on dental provision in Wantage.

The Covid pandemic left dental practices with severe backlogs of patients needing appointments, leading to issues with new patients being accepted.

In 2023, the BBC found nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK were not accepting new adult patients for treatment under the NHS.