NHS Wait Helper

Waiting times by specialty

Oral surgery waiting times in England

At the end of June 2026, 320,552 people were on the England oral surgery waiting list and about 6 in 10 people (55%) had been waiting less than 18 weeks.

NHS England reports this service as Oral Surgery Service. Hospital-based surgery of the mouth, jaws and teeth, separate from routine NHS dentistry. It commonly includes wisdom tooth removal, jaw joint problems, oral lesions.

People waiting
320,552
End of June 2026
Under 18 weeks
55.0%
Share of this published list
Over 52 weeks
7,441
Share of all NHS waits
4.5%
of 7,178,718 total

7,441 people (2.3%, roughly 1 in 43) had been waiting more than 52 weeks.

How this has changed

Between July 2025 and June 2026 the share of people on the England oral surgery list waiting under 18 weeks improved by 3.9 percentage points (51% to 55%).

The number of organisations in our imported data changed from 115 to 124 over this period, so the total count partly reflects coverage. The percentage is a more reliable guide to the trend than the headcount.

Share waiting under 18 weeks: broadly unchanged over 3 months (55.6% in March 2026); up 3.2 points over 6 months (51.8% in December 2025).

Share seen within 18 weeks, month by month

Improving · +3.9 points

Percentage of people seen within 18 weeks, over the last 12 published months.

View these figures as a table
Percentage seen within 18 weeks by month
MonthWithin 18 weeks
July 202551.1%
August 202550.5%
September 202550.9%
October 202550.9%
November 202551.6%
December 202551.8%
January 202652.4%
February 202653.6%
March 202655.6%
April 202654.9%
May 202655.4%
June 202655%

Month-to-month movements of less than two percentage points are treated as normal variation rather than a real change in direction.

Month-by-month figures
Monthly Oral surgery figures for England
MonthWaitingUnder 18 weeksOver 52 weeks
July 2025323,10751.1%13,020
August 2025321,70850.5%13,132
September 2025319,10250.9%12,866
October 2025317,88050.9%12,722
November 2025314,45551.6%11,692
December 2025318,62251.8%10,611
January 2026318,44052.4%10,023
February 2026322,93253.6%9,136
March 2026320,61255.6%7,091
April 2026321,51654.9%7,445
May 2026322,03055.4%7,426
June 2026320,55255.0%7,441

How much hospitals differ

Across the 104 NHS trusts with data, the share waiting under 18 weeks ranges from 34% (East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust) to 87% (Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust) — a 53-point gap. These published figures do not predict when an individual patient will receive an appointment or treatment.

  • 80% or more under 18 weeks5 trusts
  • 65% to 79%21 trusts
  • 50% to 64%43 trusts
  • Under 50%35 trusts

A further 6 NHS-funded independent-sector and other providers reported 13,184 people waiting for this service. Their case mix can differ from an NHS trust's, so they are counted here but not ranked alongside trusts.

NHS trusts by published position

Trusts with at least 200 people on this list, most recent month, sorted by share waiting under 18 weeks. Small differences are not meaningful.

NHS trusts reporting Oral surgery waits
TrustRegionWaitingUnder 18 weeksOver 52 weeks
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation TrustSouth East48987%0
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation TrustNorth West98883%0
Imperial College Healthcare NHS TrustLondon51183%0
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS TrustLondon2,38680%11
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation TrustLondon5,69380%2
Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation TrustLondon1,03679%0
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn, NHS Foundation TrustEast of England42878%13
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands6,23877%0
University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands2,26176%28
Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East1,10275%0
Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS TrustSouth West2,36874%9
Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber3,14172%2
The Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth East2,42272%0
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber2,11972%24
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS TrustLondon2,13071%10
Bristol NHS Foundation TrustSouth West2,55570%0
University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon7,01770%4
Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustLondon2,05769%22
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber88469%1
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England1,83168%40
South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation TrustNorth East5,08368%0
Airedale NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber44568%3
Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,12968%12
Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation TrustNorth West73768%0
Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,02867%37
Salisbury NHS Foundation TrustSouth West1,83167%0
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,52365%0
University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,30764%26
Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,42263%14
Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation TrustNorth East1,62463%0
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,38162%27
St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon1,58762%85
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation TrustNorth East76061%0
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS TrustWest Midlands3,38260%64
Walsall Healthcare NHS TrustWest Midlands2,21160%0
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands1,10360%47
Barts Health NHS TrustLondon3,57360%88
Royal Free London NHS Foundation TrustLondon4,85660%17
East Lancashire Hospitals NHS TrustNorth West3,96360%45
The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS TrustWest Midlands2,49259%0
King's College Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLondon9,05659%131
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,81058%0
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation TrustSouth East7,78658%62
Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation TrustSouth West1,69857%4
West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustEast of England2,80357%54
Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber2,23557%1
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustNorth West2,22156%27
Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,23356%8
University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,09455%12
Wye Valley NHS TrustWest Midlands80655%7
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West4,24255%58
James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England90155%4
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS TrustWest Midlands3,93855%195
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,92654%0
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East1,79154%32
Manchester University NHS Foundation TrustNorth West15,75854%436
Shropshire Community Health NHS TrustWest Midlands34754%0
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS TrustWest Midlands1,17953%3
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East1,97953%129
Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East4,58353%105
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation TrustSouth East2,49653%111
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber1,46153%8
Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,49652%15
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustLondon2,11752%0
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West4,72452%54
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands2,27151%6
East Sussex Healthcare NHS TrustSouth East1,95551%1
East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation TrustEast of England3,87051%0
Bolton NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,39251%63
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS TrustEast Midlands2,16750%18
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustYorkshire and The Humber2,52449%78
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS TrustEast of England1,70449%50
Royal Surrey NHS Foundation TrustSouth East3,86249%32
Isle of Wight NHS TrustSouth East54349%9
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth East3,30348%135
United Lincolnshire Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustEast Midlands2,91448%106
Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation TrustNorth West1,85448%84
North West Anglia NHS Foundation TrustEast of England2,64148%10
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands1,35048%51
York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber4,02847%145
Croydon Health Services NHS TrustLondon2,87947%112
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands2,47147%23
Northampton General Hospital NHS TrustEast Midlands2,39446%23
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation TrustEast Midlands2,15046%16
University Hospitals of Leicester NHS TrustEast Midlands6,91746%401
London North West University Healthcare NHS TrustLondon8,46345%8
Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,23745%28
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNorth West2,07645%21
Somerset NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,53545%183
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustSouth West3,06844%95
South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation TrustWest Midlands1,40544%22
The Rotherham NHS Foundation TrustYorkshire and The Humber2,39844%70
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation TrustLondon2,16544%83
Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS TrustSouth East4,30443%405
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS TrustWest Midlands4,71243%311
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England6,88643%173
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation TrustSouth East8,52842%709
Frimley Health NHS Foundation TrustSouth East2,79542%133
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustEast of England3,81441%159
George Eliot Hospital NHS TrustWest Midlands1,13941%8
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS TrustWest Midlands3,89737%159
East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS TrustEast of England96237%63
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation TrustEast of England7,05735%1,018
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation TrustSouth East4,58934%315

What this measure includes

  • These figures cover consultant-led referral-to-treatment pathways where the patient was still waiting to start treatment at the end of the reporting month.
  • People can be at different stages of an incomplete referral-to-treatment pathway. The figures do not show the stage of an individual patient's pathway.
  • These published aggregate figures do not show the clinical priority of an individual referral.

Checking your own position

Published figures describe a whole list for one month. To work out how long you have been waiting, use the wait check. The team named on your appointment letter is the only source for your actual place on a list.

How to read a specialty figure

These are end-of-month counts of people on an incomplete consultant-led referral-to-treatment pathway. One specialty list holds referrals of different clinical priority and people at different stages, and the published figures do not separate them, so this is context rather than a forecast for any individual.

What these figures cannot tell you

  • Where you are in a queue, or when you will be seen or treated.
  • How urgent your own referral is. These are aggregate waiting-list figures and do not show the clinical priority of an individual patient.
  • Anything about a specific consultant, clinic or site within a trust.
  • What will happen next month: these are end-of-month snapshots of a past period.

Related guides on this site

Related pages

All specialties