Dental patient registrations continue to decline

Date published: 30 October 2025

New official statistics published today by NISRA statisticians in the Business Services Organisation (BSO) present dental services activity for Northern Ireland in the second quarter of the 2025/26 financial year.

Key findings

The provisional statistics for Q2 2025/26 show trends in dental services across Northern Ireland:

• Patient registrations stood at 958,009 – a marginal decrease of 0.8% since last quarter, continuing a downward trend from 1,226,379 registrations in Q2 2024/25 (a 21.9% decline year-on-year). This represents a significant reduction in the number of patients registered with NHS dental services.
• 1,205 dentists were providing services in Northern Ireland – up 1.1% on last quarter but down 0.5% on the previous year, with services delivered across 353 dental practices (down 1.1% on last quarter and down 1.9% on last year).
• Treatment activity showed significant decreases, with 235,372 treatment claims – down 3.8% on last quarter and down 5.7% year-on-year. This included:
  • 136,865 X-rays (down 9.1% on last year)
  • 130,433 fillings (down 11.5% on last year)
  • 29,493 extractions (down 6.6% on last year)
  • 3,285 crowns (down 16.4% on last year)
• Item of Service treatment fees paid totalled over £16 million in Q2 2025/26 – down 3.3% since last quarter.
• Regional variation showed all 11 local government districts experienced declining patient registrations over the past year, with Belfast recording the highest number of registered patients (158,477), followed by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (117,599) and Newry, Mourne and Down (104,661).

About the publication

This quarterly release provides provisional statistics on General Dental Services in Northern Ireland. The full report includes:

• Charts and downloadable data on patient registrations by gender, age group, health trust and local government district
• Detailed breakdowns of treatment types (fillings, extractions, X-Rays and crowns) by demographics and geography
• Monthly trends in claims submitted, fees paid and number of patients treated
  Information on the number and location of dental practices and dentists across Northern Ireland
• The quarterly updates are provisional and may be revised when figures are finalised for the end-of-year annual report. This publication is presented in an accessible HTML format with interactive graphics.

Further information

Read the full report: Dental Services for Northern Ireland, Quarterly Series to Q2 2025/26 - Provisional