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Cheapest dental insurance in the UK
Ranked by real monthly cost — and where cheap stops being good value
Written by DentalPlanFinder Editorial Team
Independent dental plan research • Published August 2026
The short answer
The cheapest dental cover in the UK is Westfield Health at £5 a month, followed by Simplyhealth, Bupa and Boots at £8. But the cheapest tier of any plan carries low annual claim limits — often under £200 — which will not cover a single crown anywhere in the UK. For genuine full coverage, budget £20–£30 a month.
Sorting UK dental cover by price takes about ten seconds. Working out which of the cheap options is actually worth buying takes longer, because the entry price of every plan on this page is attached to an annual claim limit that most people never check.
Here is the trap in one sentence: a £5/month plan costs £60 a year, and if its annual dental limit is £150, the most it can ever return to you is £150 — against a crown that costs £650 in the North of England and £900 in London. Cheap cover is genuinely good value for routine care and genuinely useless for restorative work, and the marketing rarely makes that distinction.
The ranking below is strictly by entry price. The section after it deals with the more useful question, which is what the cheapest *adequate* cover costs.
Ranked by cheapest entry price
Westfield Health Westfield Health Dental
#1 cheapest — £5/month
Westfield Health is the cheapest credible dental cover in the UK. Not-for-profit, any dentist NHS or private, no waiting period, claim from day one. For infrequent dental users who want check-ups and hygiene partly reimbursed, £60 a year is hard to argue with.
Worth knowing: The £5 tier’s annual limits are low and the cheapest levels exclude emergency dental cover entirely. This is routine-care cover, not protection against a big bill.
Simplyhealth Simply Dental
=#2 cheapest — £8/month
Simplyhealth at £8/month is the best-value entry tier here, because it combines a low price with no waiting period and free choice of NHS or private dentist. It also has the widest upgrade path in the market, running to £50/month if your needs grow.
Worth knowing: Cashback model with per-treatment annual limits — check the limit for fillings specifically.
BUPA BUPA Dental Cover
=#2 cheapest — £8/month
Bupa matches the £8 entry price with a regulated insurance product rather than cashback, and adds worldwide dental emergency cover on most tiers. If you travel, that benefit alone can justify choosing it over a cheaper cash plan.
Worth knowing: 2-month waiting period on routine treatment, so it is not immediate cover at any price.
Boots Boots Dental Insurance
=#2 cheapest — £8/month
Boots also starts at £8/month covering both NHS and private treatment, and is the only £8 option with emergency cover from day one. That makes it the pick among the £8 tier if immediate protection matters more than travel benefits.
Worth knowing: Routine treatment carries a 2-month wait; the top tier stops at around £30.
WPA WPA Dental Cover
#5 — £12/month
WPA’s £12 floor is the highest entry price here, and buys a genuinely different product: private-focused cover including hygienist treatment and worldwide emergencies from a well-rated not-for-profit insurer.
Worth knowing: The 3-month waiting period is the longest in this table and there is no NHS option.
Denplan Denplan Care
#6 — £13/month, no annual limit
Denplan is the most expensive entry point and the only one with no annual claim limit. If your concern is a large restorative bill rather than the monthly outlay, the “most expensive” option here is frequently the cheapest over a five-year horizon.
Worth knowing: Requires a dental assessment and ties you to a member practice. The fee is personalised, so £13 is a floor, not a quote.
What the cheapest tier does and does not cover
| Treatment | Typical UK private cost | Covered by a £5–£8 tier? |
|---|---|---|
| Check-up | £60–£85 | Yes, usually in full or close to it |
| Hygiene visit | £58–£90 | Usually partly |
| X-ray | £28–£40 | Usually |
| Filling | £100–£150 | Partly — often capped below cost |
| Extraction | £140–£200 | Partly, if at all |
| Root canal | £490–£700 | No — exceeds typical annual limits |
| Crown | £640–£900 | No — exceeds typical annual limits |
What the cheapest adequate cover actually costs
If “adequate” means the plan can absorb a single crown or root canal without you finding several hundred pounds, you need an annual limit of at least £700 for restorative treatment. In practice that puts you in the £20–£30 a month band on a cash plan or mid-tier insurance, or on a capitation plan at £13–£22 where no annual limit applies at all.
That last point is the one most price comparisons miss. Denplan has the highest entry price on this page and no claim ceiling, which makes it structurally different from everything above it. Comparing £13 against £5 is comparing an uncapped arrangement to a capped one, and the gap in what you are buying is far larger than the £8 gap in price.
A reasonable rule: if you have had any restorative work in the last five years, price the plans by annual limit first and monthly cost second. If you have not, the £5–£8 tier is genuinely good value and the rest of this page is over-thinking it.
Cheap cover and the NHS alternative
Before buying the cheapest private cover, check whether NHS treatment is actually available to you, because NHS band charges undercut every plan on this page. An NHS check-up is £26.80 (Band 1), a filling £73.50 (Band 2) and a crown or root canal £284.70 (Band 3) — roughly a third of the private price for restorative work.
The catch is access rather than price. More than 13 million adults in England cannot get an NHS dentist, and in parts of the North, the Midlands and rural areas new NHS registrations have effectively stopped. If you are already registered with an NHS practice and expect to stay, the cheapest sensible dental cover may be no cover at all plus an emergency fund.
If you are not registered and unlikely to be, the private prices in our regional cost data are the numbers that apply to you — and the case for cover strengthens considerably.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest dental insurance in the UK?
Westfield Health at £5 a month. Simplyhealth, Bupa and Boots all start at £8. Westfield is a not-for-profit health cash plan with no waiting period, but the cheapest tiers have low annual limits and exclude emergency cover.
Is cheap dental insurance worth it?
For routine care, yes — a £5–£8 tier will cover most of two check-ups and a hygiene visit. For restorative work, no: typical entry-tier annual limits fall short of a single crown, which costs £640–£900 privately.
What is the cheapest full dental coverage plan in the UK?
For genuinely full coverage with no annual limit, Denplan at £13–£22 a month is the cheapest structure, though the fee is personalised. Among capped plans, budget £20–£30 a month for limits high enough to absorb restorative treatment.
Can I get dental insurance with no waiting period?
Yes. Westfield Health and Simplyhealth both let you claim from day one, and Boots covers emergencies immediately. Bupa has a 2-month wait for routine treatment and WPA 3 months.
Is NHS dental treatment cheaper than private insurance?
Yes, substantially — an NHS crown is £284.70 against £640–£900 privately. The obstacle is access: over 13 million adults in England cannot get an NHS dentist, which is why private cover is worth pricing at all.
Compare these plans side by side
See prices, cover levels and waiting periods for all six UK plans in one table — or answer four questions and we'll narrow it down for you.