What is Dental Choices?

Dental Choices was created to make it easier for people to find a dentist and make informed decisions about their oral health.

What started as a tool to help patients find NHS dental practices accepting new patients has grown into a wider resource for patients looking for NHS, private and independent dental care in England.

Alongside our dental practice directory, Dental Choices provides clear, information about dentistry, helping patients better understand their oral health, treatment options and how to access care.

A system to find a dentist, made by a dentist

I made Dental Choices in 2018, while working as an NHS emergency dentist. I used to routinely explain to unregistered patients I saw each day, the complicated process of how to use the NHS website to find a dentist they could register with. After explaining thousands of times, and each time agreeing that yes it is unnecessarily complicated, I started to think that I could make a better and simpler system.

I designed a system to check the NHS website each day and automatically update a list of local dental practices accepting new NHS patients, thinking I could then just print the list to give to unregistered patients. Once developed however, the system could easily be used to generate a list for any location in England, even making a custom list for each patient …and so Dental Choices was born.

Why Dental Choices is evolving

Dentistry has changed significantly since Dental Choices launched.

Access to NHS dentistry has become increasingly difficult, and many patients now find themselves considering a mix of NHS, private and independent options when seeking care.

At the same time, official datasets have become less reliable indicators of real-world availability. Some practices may appear to be accepting patients while operating waiting lists, while others may have capacity that is not reflected in national databases.

As a result, Dental Choices is evolving from an exclusively NHS dentist finder into a service for finding all types of dental practices across the UK.

Dental information written by a dentist

The educational articles on Dental Choices are written and reviewed by a practising dentist.

Many of these articles were originally created during the COVID-19 pandemic to help patients understand common dental problems and when professional care might be required. Since then, the library has expanded to cover a range of oral health topics.

The aim is always to provide balanced, practical information that patients can understand.

Feedback and continuous improvement

Dental Choices continues to evolve based on feedback from both patients and dental professionals.

Every piece of feedback helps improve the accuracy, clarity and usefulness of the information provided.

If something is unclear, outdated or could be improved, we would love to hear from you.

Independence and transparency

Dental Choices is independently owned and operated.

We are not owned by the NHS, a corporate dental group, an insurance company or any dental product manufacturer.

This independence allows us to focus on providing useful information for patients without influence from external organisations.

Where advertising, affiliate links or sponsored content are used, they will be clearly identified.

Disclaimer

While every effort is made to ensure the information on Dental Choices is accurate and up to date, dentistry and healthcare continually evolve as new evidence emerges and services change.

Information provided on this website is intended for general educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis or treatment from a dentist, doctor or other healthcare professional.

Supporting Dental Choices

Dental Choices began as a side project developed in my spare time to help patients navigate the dental system more easily.

Today the website continues to be independently developed and maintained, with ongoing investment in infrastructure, data management and content creation.

Any revenue generated through advertising, affiliate links or practice subscriptions is used to support the continued development, maintenance and improvement of the service.

Please also read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

If you represent a dental practice – find out how to claim and managing your practice.