Request

You asked us:

I would like to have a prescription cost analysis data specific to drugs for dental treatments

I have found 2 reports on the NHSBA website- the first is a data compilation of all non-hospital drugs and utilities

The second is specific to dental but does not have all the drugs individually listed

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 3 November 2025

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds the information you have requested and a copy of the information and notes explaining it is attached.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

Total Quantity and Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of Items dispensed by Dentists in England 

NHSBSA 

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for pharmacy contractors, appliance contractors, dispensing doctors and personal administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to dispensing doctors and personal administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users. 

Data Source: ePACT2 

Data in ePACT2 is sourced from the NHSBSA Data Warehouse and is derived from products prescribed on prescriptions and dispensed in the Community. The data captured from prescription processing is used to calculate reimbursement and remuneration. It includes items prescribed in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man which have been dispensed in the community in England. English prescribing that has been dispensed in Wales, Scotland, Guernsey / Alderney, Jersey, and Isle of Man is also included. 

The Data excludes:  

• items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.  

• prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in prisons, hospitals and private prescriptions. 

• items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser. 

Time Period:  

January 2022-December 2024. Data is aggregated by calendar year. 

Organisation Data:  

The data includes items prescribed anywhere in the UK and dispensed within England. 

Data:  

This data covers the number of items, total quantity and the net ingredient cost (NIC) dispensed by dentists during the time period stated above. The data also includes the relevant BNF Chapter, Section, Paragraph, Chemical Substance and Presentation, as well as the prescribed and dispensed Preparation Class and Unit of Measure. 

BNF Code: 

The BNF Code is a 15-digit code in which the first seven digits are allocated according to the categories in the BNF, and the last 8 digits represent the medicinal product, form, strength and the link to the generic equivalent product. NHS Prescription Services has created pseudo BNF chapters, which are not published, for items not included in BNF chapters 1 to 15. Most of these items are dressings and appliances which NHS Prescription Services has classified into four pseudo BNF chapters (20 to 23). 

Items: 

Shows the number of times a product appears on a prescription form not the quantity prescribed. 

Total Quantity 

Total quantity is the number of items multiplied by the quantity prescribed. e.g. 2 items prescribed, one with a quantity of 2 and one with a quantity of 3, the total quantity would show as 5 (1 item x quantity of 2) + (1 item x quantity of 3) 

This data is formatted to whole numbers. 

Net Ingredient Cost 

Net Ingredient cost (NIC) is the basic price of a drug as stated in Part II Clause 8 of the Drug Tariff but please note that where a price concession for items listed in Part VIII of the Drug Tariff has been agreed between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Community Pharmacy England the NIC will reflect the concession price rather than the Drug Tariff price. 

Publishing this response 

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-03337

Your personal details will be removed from the published response.

Data Queries 

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright 

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented. 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “ePACT2, NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence. 

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.