Urgent Dental Service
If you have a regular dentist and are experiencing dental pain, you should contact your dental practice for advice on how to manage your problems and where appropriate you should be provided with an urgent appointment.
If you do not have a regular dentist or have an urgent dental problem outside normal working hours, please call 111 for advice and help in finding an urgent dental appointment if required.
It is important that people continue to contact their regular dentist if they have problems such as a swelling, pain that is not relieved with simple pain relief within 24-48 hours or if they have ulcers which have not healed within seven days.
No-one should be suffering from toothache, a dental infection or problems from their mouth - your regular dentist is able to provide care and advice quickly and emergency dentists are available.
If you receive urgent dental treatment, the charge will be £30 unless you are exempt from paying NHS charges. If you do not have to pay for treatment, you will be asked to provide evidence of this when you attend the practice.
Toothache on its own (for example, toothache with no other accompanying symptoms or signs) is not a dental emergency. Patients with toothache should not attend an Accident and Emergency Department.
Dental emergencies requiring care from an Emergency Department include:
- Traumatic injuries to the face or mouth such as complete displacement of a tooth from its socket
- Oro-facial swelling that is significant and worsening
- Post-extraction bleeding that the patient is not able to control with local measures
- Dental infections associated with acute systemic illness, raised temperature or severe trismus (restricted mouth opening)
- Oro-dental conditions that are likely to exacerbate systemic medical conditions such as diabetes
Urgent dental problems are those that cannot wait for routine dental care. These include:
- Dental and soft tissue infections or swelling of the face or mouth which is not spreading across the neck or towards the eye and where you do not feel unwell
- Mouth ulcers, lumps or sores which have been present for more than two weeks
- Bleeding following dental treatment which cannot be controlled at home
- A broken adult tooth which causes severe pain that is not made better by painkillers
- Severe uncontrollable dental and facial pain - constant toothache or pain from the mouth that is not made better by painkillers
Non-urgent dental conditions include:
- Pain that responds to pain-relief measures
- Minor dental trauma
- Post-extraction bleeding that the patient is able to control using self-care measures
- Loose or displaced crowns; bridges or veneers; fractured or loose fitting dentures and other appliances
- Fractured posts supporting crowns
- Fractured, loose or displaced fillings
- Treatments normally associated with routine dental care
- Bleeding gums
Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau ffôn yn y Gymraeg neu'r Saesneg. Atebir gohebiaeth Gymraeg yn y Gymraeg, ac ni fydd hyn yn arwain at oedi. Mae’r dudalen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg drwy bwyso’r botwm ar y dde ar frig y dudalen.
We welcome correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Welsh language correspondence will be replied to in Welsh, and this will not lead to a delay. This page is available in Welsh by clicking ‘Cymraeg’ at the top right of this page.