Background
The dental recruitment incentive scheme was introduced in 2024 to encourage recruitment of dentists to areas that have historically struggled to recruit.
The scheme committed to recruiting up to 240 dentists with an incentive payment of up to £20,000 over three years.
The posts were distributed at a regional level to allow local flexibility to target posts in areas of greatest need.
The data is collected by integrated care boards (ICBs) and collated by NHS England. The data includes dentists recruited under the national Dental Recruitment Incentive Scheme and those recruited under an agreed local variation to the national scheme from 1 April 2025.
Recruitment data as submitted on 29 July 2026
| Region | Allocation | Recruitment | |
| Total number of posts appointed to but yet to commence in post | Total number of dentists commenced in post | ||
| England | 240 | 23 | 162 |
| East of England | 41 | 5 | 37 |
| London | 8 | 1 | 3 |
| Midlands | 44 | 1 | 16 |
| North East and Yorkshire | 41 | 0 | 12 |
| North West | 21 | 0 | 8 |
| South East | 27 | 3 | 41 |
| South West | 58 | 13 | 45 |
Contact for further information contact england.dentaloptoms@nhs.net