Why Dental Practices Struggle to Hire Across the UK

Most UK dental practices trying to fill a vacancy this autumn are competing for a shrinking pool of candidates against a backdrop of record GDC registration numbers. That contradiction sits at the heart of the recruitment problem: the register is growing, but the people on it are not distributing themselves the way practices need. The General Dental Council's 2026 annual renewal figures put the dentist register at 47,022, up more than 3% year on year, yet the British Dental Association reports that 70% of practice owners still find it difficult to recruit a dentist (Source 1, Source 2).

The mismatch is not new but it has hardened. Self-employment, an ageing workforce close to retirement, a stalled overseas exam pipeline and a pay settlement that only partially addresses the underlying contract problem are all now visible in the same 12 months of published data. For anyone hiring, or looking to be hired, in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Bristol, understanding why the numbers do not translate into filled chairs is the first step toward a workable hiring or job-search strategy.

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Quick Summary

GDC register reached 47,022 dentists in the 2026 renewal cycle, up over 3% year on year, but recruitment difficulty has not eased (Source 1)
77% of practice owners report difficulty recruiting dental nurses, 70% difficulty recruiting dentists, 63% difficulty recruiting hygienists (Source 2)
32% of associates intend to retire or leave dentistry within five years; 44% of owners plan to reduce NHS commitment in the same period (Source 2)
60% of dentists are self-employed, agency workers or locums rather than employees, complicating permanent recruitment (Source 7)
New GDC ORE contract with UCL Consultants began delivering exams from August 2026, but around 7,000 overseas dentists remain on waiting lists (Source 3, Source 4)
EU automatic recognition route for dentists is due to end in summer 2028, closing a channel practices currently rely on (Source 5)
DDRB's March 2026 report made its first differential pay recommendation for dentistry in decades and called NHS contract reform essential (Source 8)

Understand why more dentists has not meant easier hiring

The headline register figure looks reassuring on its own. The GDC's January 2026 annual renewal data shows 47,022 dentists registered, continuing several years of steady growth, alongside a rise in the annual retention fee to £698 from £621 (Source 1). Taken in isolation, that suggests a workforce moving in the right direction.

The BDA's submission to the 2026-27 DDRB pay round tells a different story from the ground. Surveyed practice owners reported that 77% found it difficult to recruit dental nurses, 70% found it difficult to recruit dentists, and 63% found it difficult to recruit hygienists, with vacancies across the dental team commonly open for more than six months, rising to 76% among practices with a high NHS commitment (Source 2). A growing register does not automatically produce more people willing, or able, to take a chair in a given practice, in a given city, on a given contract.

Working-patterns data published by the GDC in March 2026 helps explain part of the gap. Of the 75% of dentists (35,474 people) who have now answered the working-patterns questions, 60% describe themselves as self-employed, agency workers or locums, compared with only 20% who are employees and 15% who are owners or part-owners (Source 7). A workforce this fragmented is structurally harder to recruit into permanent, salaried positions, because the majority of registered dentists are not seeking that kind of role in the first place.

Why this matters

A rising GDC register is not a reliable proxy for local hiring ease; workforce distribution and employment type matter more
Practices competing for locums and self-employed associates face a different hiring problem than those seeking salaried employees

Watch the workforce exodus that pay reform is trying to address

Behind the recruitment figures sits a second, slower-moving problem: retention among the workforce already in post. BDA survey data collected in August 2025, and published as part of the 2026-27 DDRB submission, found that 32% of dental associates intend to retire or leave dentistry within five years, while 44% of practice owners plan to reduce their NHS commitment over the same period (Source 3). Those are not distant projections; they describe decisions already being made by people currently treating NHS patients.

The Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body's 54th Report, published on 31 March 2026, responded to this pressure with the first differential pay recommendation for dentistry in decades, a step the DDRB itself described as unusual and one it said it would keep under review for future reports (Source 8). The report was explicit that pay alone will not fix the underlying issue: it stated that substantial reform to NHS dental contracts is needed to make the profession attractive to new recruits, and that it hoped to see significant progress over the following year.

The financial mechanics explain why contract reform, rather than pay alone, sits at the centre of the debate. BDA analysis published in March 2026 found that NHS contract holders are now delivering typical items of NHS care at a loss, and rely on a cross-subsidy of more than £400 million a year from private activity just to break even (Source 6). A contract that requires private income to stay viable is not one that easily supports competitive salaries for employed associates or nurses, which feeds straight back into the recruitment difficulty practices report.

Assess the overseas pipeline practices are counting on

With domestic supply constrained, many practices, particularly those with high NHS commitments in cities like Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow, have looked to overseas-qualified dentists to fill gaps. That route has become more complicated, not less, over the past year. The GDC signed a new contract with UCL Consultants in March 2026 for delivery of the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE), with the first exams under the new arrangement beginning in August 2026 (Source 4). The first contract year, running from 31 May 2026 to 30 May 2027 and currently underway, is providing 2,400 Part 1 places and 944 Part 2 places, with Part 2 capacity due to rise to 1,500 places a year by the third year of the contract.

That expansion is welcome but it is working against a substantial backlog. BDA analysis published in March 2026 estimated that around 7,000 overseas-qualified dentists remained on GDC waiting lists at that point, many having waited years for a registration exam sitting, despite government efforts to expand Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS) exam capacity tenfold (Source 4). Expanding ORE capacity from August 2026 should reduce that backlog over time, but it does not clear it immediately, and practices hoping to recruit an overseas-qualified associate this year may still find candidates stuck mid-process.

A second overseas channel is also narrowing. The automatic recognition route that allows EU-qualified dentists to register with the GDC without sitting the ORE is due to end in the summer of 2028 (Source 5). That date is still some way off, but workforce planning in dentistry runs on a multi-year cycle, and practices that have relied on EU-trained associates may want to treat the next two years as a window to secure that talent before the route closes. Visa data adds a further constraint: Health and Care Worker visa grants to dentists are already much smaller in volume than grants to doctors, and Home Office figures show overall NHS-linked visa grants falling 20% year on year by the first quarter of 2025 (Source 9).

Key Points

ORE exam places: 2,400 Part 1 and 944 Part 2 in the first contract year (2026-27), rising to 1,500 Part 2 places by year three
Around 7,000 overseas dentists were on GDC waiting lists as of the BDA's March 2026 analysis
EU automatic recognition route closes in summer 2028, a fixed and approaching deadline for practices relying on it

Dental practice reception desk in a UK clinic with a recruitment notice for dentist and hygienist vacancies

Weigh what unmet patient need means for practice planning

The consequence of all this shows up most clearly in patient access. BDA analysis of the 2025 GP Patient Survey, carried out by Ipsos and extrapolated against ONS mid-year population estimates, put unmet NHS dental need at close to 14 million adults, or more than one in four of England's adult population, with the 2025 figure of around 13.8 million almost unchanged from 2024 (Source 5). That scale of unmet need is itself a signal to practices and jobseekers about where demand, and potentially where negotiating leverage on pay and conditions, is concentrated.

For practice owners in cities such as Bristol, Birmingham and Edinburgh, this data suggests recruitment strategy may need to move beyond simply advertising a vacancy and expecting applications from the growing register. It may be worth reviewing whether a role is realistically pitched at the 60% of the workforce who prefer self-employed or locum arrangements, rather than assuming candidates want a traditional employed position. It can also be worth building relationships with dentists moving through the ORE pipeline now, so that a practice is positioned to offer a role once registration completes, rather than competing only at the point a candidate is already fully registered and available.

For jobseekers and dental care professionals, the same data points to genuine leverage. With 70% of owners reporting difficulty recruiting dentists and a pay round that has, for the first time in decades, produced a differential recommendation specifically for dentistry, candidates weighing offers across London, Liverpool or Glasgow may find more room to negotiate on contract type, private-to-NHS mix, or flexibility than in previous years (Source 2, Source 8).

Role	Share of owners reporting recruitment difficulty
Recruitment difficulty reported by UK dental practice owners, by role (BDA DDRB submission, 2025/26 data)
Dental nurses	77%
Dentists	70%
Dental hygienists	63%

The Bottom Line

The data through 2026 shows a dental workforce that is growing on paper but not easing the pressure practices feel day to day. A record register, a widening overseas exam pipeline and a landmark pay recommendation are all genuine positives, but they sit alongside a retention problem, a fragmented employment structure, and two overseas routes (ORE backlog and EU recognition) that are each running against their own clock.

Practices that treat recruitment as a rolling, longer-term relationship with the pipeline, rather than a reactive response to a single vacancy, are likely to be better placed as these pressures continue through 2027 and beyond. A specialist dental recruitment partner can help match realistic role structures to the workforce that actually exists, rather than the one the headline figures might suggest. Speak to our General Manager, Jem Melcher, to find out how he can help.

Disclaimer: This blog is a general overview and should not be construed as professional legal, financial or medical advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Why is it so hard to recruit dentists in the UK right now?

It reflects several pressures arriving together: 70% of practice owners report difficulty recruiting dentists, 32% of associates plan to leave or retire within five years, and 60% of dentists work as self-employed locums rather than seeking permanent employed roles, all of which shrink the effective pool for any single vacancy (BDA, GDC).

Q2: Has the GDC increased overseas dentist exam capacity?

Yes. A new GDC contract with UCL Consultants began delivering Overseas Registration Exam sittings from August 2026, offering 2,400 Part 1 and 944 Part 2 places in its first year, rising to 1,500 Part 2 places by year three, though a backlog of roughly 7,000 candidates remains on waiting lists.

Q3: When does EU dentist automatic recognition end?

The automatic recognition route allowing EU-qualified dentists to register with the GDC without sitting the ORE is due to end in the summer of 2028. Practices relying on EU-trained associates have a limited window to recruit through this channel before it closes.

Q4: Did dentists get a pay rise in 2026?

The DDRB's 54th Report, published on 31 March 2026, made the first differential pay recommendation specifically for dentistry in decades, while stating that substantial NHS dental contract reform is still needed to make the profession attractive to new recruits.

Q5: How many people are affected by unmet NHS dental need?

BDA analysis of 2025 GP Patient Survey data estimates unmet NHS dental need at close to 14 million adults in England, more than one in four of the adult population, a figure that has stayed roughly flat since 2024 despite workforce growth.

Information Sources

This article was researched using authoritative UK sources. Last updated: 2026-09-28.

Why Dental Practices Struggle to Hire Across the UK