dentistry woes

brook2jack

Phone your local PCT (number in phone book), who have a legal obligation to provide emergency service. This will most likely be an emergency clinic often only open for restricted times, which will provide emergency treatment only (extraction,temporary fillings etc).

The appointments may not be available every day and you still have to pay NHS charges.

The other alternative is to attend local dental hospital emergency clinic. There is no guarantee you will be seen, there will probably be a wait of several hours at least and it will only be temporary treatment.

Mrs_Potato_Head_2

Thanks for the suggestions. I know teeth don't just fall out, but I am quite stumped as I have always taken good care of my teeth, brush and floss twice a day. Anyway, its gone now and most of you are right, if I want it replaced Im going to have to pony up the dough.

I know that in our area the NHS put aside dental appointments for emergencies, basically you call up at 9am, tell them the emergency and they will fit you in that day. So its not a 24 hr emergency type of thing, but they have space for 9 - 5 emergencies.

DS4215

I've just had something similar and it was £47 (band 2) to have the remainder extracted. That also included a filling and root canal work

brook2jack

You can brush and floss twenty four hours a day but if you eat or drink anything sugary more than three times a day you will get decay. This includes dried fruit,fruit juices,smoothies etc.

If you suffer from dry mouth because of medications this can make the problem worse.

The important thing is to ask your dentist about the changes you need to make to stop having any similar problems and keep regular check ups so hopefully problems are spotted before you lose the tooth.

dreamdreamer

Just wondering, what the alternatives are if you can't find an NHS dentist without a waiting list and you need treatment in an emergency?

For a dental emergency phone NHS Direct on 08 45 46 47 - they have a list of the dentists in every area that have emergency slots each day, and details of out of hours care in your area. They'll give you their phone numbers and you can ring around. They go quickly so you usually have to phone a few before you find one with slots still free.

This is the NHS page for emergency dental care with useful numbers and links.

brook2jack

Just to say not every area has emergency slots every day, and not every area has dentists that run emergency slots.

Many areas will just have clinics that run a few days of the week.

Also be aware that even if you normally see a nhs dentist there is no such thing as registration anymore in England and Wales. So unless you are in the middle of a course of treatment your "own" dentist is under no obligation to offer you an emergency appointment.