Can you register at a dentist not where you live?

choccyface2006

My boyfriend lives 68 miles away in Lancashire and I am in Cheshire. He is not registered with a dentist at present and is wondering if he can register with mine but give his own address. Will this be okay as he lives outside the area?

Thanks!

Sarah

Toothsmith

If it's private, no problem.

SOME NHS practices may have a problem with this, it depends on the individual contract the dentist has.

If he has applied for extra funding for example, it may have come with conditions that he may only take on patients in the PCT's postcodes.

This would be rare though. I would guess that there would be no problems either way.

choccyface2006

Thanks, thats great.

apples1

There are no spaces with any NHS dentists in my area (even within a wide area of where we live) and haven't been since we moved to the area a five years ago.

I have therefore registered myself & my four year old daughter with an NHS dentist near where my parents live 3 hours away. We book our six monthly check ups to coinside with visits to them. Mum registered me and gave her address as ours.

I don't know if this is strictly permitted but I'm afraid I don't feel very guilty as there is no NHS provision here.

Toothsmith

Have you looked around at the practices close by, and seen the prices?

I'm sure there will be quite a variation, and some may not be too far away from NHS prices.

Just going for check ups is fine, but what if one of you needed a course of treatment, or had an emergency?

3 hour car journey with a 4 yr old in pain, or trying to find a local dentist in an emergency.

Both will be very stressfull things to do.

Most private dentists offer some sort of monthly payment scheme that can work out very reasonably.

I would investigate the provision in your local area, as I'm sure it would save you hassle in the long run.

Plus, it is by no means certain that the NHS provision anywhere will be able to continue for much longer anyway.

It would be worse if you found out when that happened that all the local private provision was full and you had to drive 3 hours to see a private dentist.

apples1

Toothsmith wrote:

Have you looked around at the practices close by, and seen the prices?

I'm sure there will be quite a variation, and some may not be too far away from NHS prices.

Just going for check ups is fine, but what if one of you needed a course of treatment, or had an emergency?

3 hour car journey with a 4 yr old in pain, or trying to find a local dentist in an emergency.

Both will be very stressfull things to do.

Most private dentists offer some sort of monthly payment scheme that can work out very reasonably.

I would investigate the provision in your local area, as I'm sure it would save you hassle in the long run.

Plus, it is by no means certain that the NHS provision anywhere will be able to continue for much longer anyway.

It would be worse if you found out when that happened that all the local private provision was full and you had to drive 3 hours to see a private dentist.

I take your point and no, I have not looked into private costs locally. We do have an emergency "dental access centre" in our nearest town which we can go to for an emergency but they will not do check ups. I have been there when I had pain under one of my teeth and they took x rays, treated me and gave me antibiotics and saw me two weeks later to check all ok. If it were not for that I would not be so complacent about not having a dentist nearby. At the moment given the fact there is no NHS dentist here I feel I have covered the situation by getting us an NHS place elsewhere for check ups and knowing we can be seen (same day or next day) at access centre if we were in pain.

You are right though. at some point I'll need to look into going private. I just feel bit cheated that others can have NHS dentist so why shouldn't I!