Need help?

Enter a postcode or town name in the search box on the home screen, or tap "Near me" to use your device's location. Choose a search radius (1–50 miles) and we'll show every NHS and private practice we track in that area, along with whether they're currently accepting new patients.

It means the practice has told the NHS, or reported to callers, that they're not currently taking new patients. This can change at any time — practices open their books unpredictably, which is exactly why the Watch feature exists.

Yes. Use the filters on the search results or map screen to switch between All, NHS only, Private only, or Accepting only.

Tap the Map tab to see every tracked practice near a location as a pin. Green pins are accepting, red are not, grey means status unknown. Tap a pin to open that practice's page directly.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. Where available, we show a practice's latest published CQC rating so you can factor quality into your choice, not just availability.

We track NHS and private dental practices across the UK, but coverage depends on public data being available. If a practice is missing, let us know via the contact form and we'll look into adding it.

Open any practice's page and tap the bell icon (labelled "Watch"). You'll need to be signed in — it's free and takes seconds. Once you're watching a practice, we'll alert you the moment it starts accepting new patients.

Three things: our daily NHS data check detecting a change, a practice owner updating their own status, or enough callers reporting the same thing to confirm a change. All three send you both a push notification and an email, so you won't miss it either way.

First, check notifications are allowed for the app in your phone's system settings. Then check your alert preferences under Account — push and email can each be turned on or off independently. If you've just installed the app, reopening it once helps make sure your device is properly registered to receive alerts.

Yes, watching is free and unlimited.

Go to the Alerts tab, find the practice in your watch list, and tap the bell icon on its card — it'll ask you to confirm before removing it.

Alerts are sent immediately once a change is confirmed — there's no waiting for a daily digest. The only exception is if a practice's status is flapping back and forth rapidly, in which case we wait an hour between alerts for the same practice so you're not spammed by noisy data.

Yes — the Alerts tab shows a "Recent notifications" section above your watch list, with the practice name, what changed, and when.

After calling a practice, you can let other users know what you found — "They're accepting" or "Not accepting". This gives everyone a real-time picture that's often faster than official NHS data updates, which we only refresh once a day.

Call the practice using the number shown on their page. Once you hang up, a prompt appears asking what you found — tap "They're accepting" or "Not accepting". You can also vote any time from the practice page itself, under "Called this practice recently?".

Each practice shows an accuracy score based on how consistently caller reports agree. We only flip a practice's official status after enough consistent reports come in, so a single report can't accidentally mislead everyone.

That's fine — vote with what you actually experienced. If enough other callers report the same thing, the status will update to reflect it.

Tap "Get free alerts" on the Alerts tab, or the Account tab, and sign in with your email — either with a password, or a one-time magic link sent to your inbox, whichever you prefer.

Check your spam or junk folder first — some email providers are cautious with new senders. If it's still not there after a few minutes, try requesting it again, or sign in with a password instead if you've set one.

Go to Account, where you can update your email preferences and toggle push notifications on or off.

We only collect what's needed to run the service — your email, an account ID, and your location when you search or use "Near me". It's never sold or used for advertising. See our privacy policy for full details.

You can delete your account directly in the app, under Account → Delete account. If you'd rather request it another way, or don't have the app installed, email us via the contact form — select "Delete my account" and include the email your account is registered with. We'll process the request promptly.

Yes. Claim your practice's listing to update your accepting status directly, which notifies everyone watching you the moment you change it. Visit dentistsearch.co.uk/claim to get started.

Claim your listing to edit it directly, or send us the correction via the contact form and select "Incorrect listing / data error".