Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) adults and (b) children have seen a (i) a private dentist and (ii) an NHS dentist in each of the last 5 years.

NHS Digital publishes Dental Statistics for England, which is available from the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics/2021-22-annual-report

The following table shows data on the percentage of adults and children seen by dentists for National Health Service treatment in the 12- or 24-month periods to June over the last five years. Figures for 2022/23 are not yet available. Information for private dentistry is also not available.

Official guidance states that adults with good oral healthcare should be seen by a dentist once every 24 months and that children should be seen by a dentist once every 12 months. Therefore, the data is published in this format, so that the number of adults regularly visiting their dentist can be shown.

Note: The data shows that in 2022, 16,409,636 adults were seen in the previous 24 months, and 5,589,201 children were seen in the previous 12 months.