111 emergency dentist..

[Jimminir]

When did they stop giving out appointments?

My NHS dentist passed away and I can’t find another one at all. I also don’t have hundreds of pounds to spare to continuously pay private.

Woke up yesterday with a tooth ache that’s continuously getting worse. I rang 111 today to get an appointment (Iv done this before years ago and they gave me an appointment at a random dentist).

This time they basically said they had no appointments and just said ring around dentists to get a space. Which is ridiculous advice considering Iv already rang around a load and can’t find a NHS one and most are not taking on new patients full stop either.

Has anyone else called 111 recently and been told the same thing?

So sorry you are in pain. I guess you have tried this link but I'm posting it incase you haven't.

www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

It might be worth ringing round the private dentists to compare prices.
my nhs dentist retired so I had to go private. Paid £28 for initial check up and then £70 for a filling which is around the same price as nhs anyway.

Always attended NHS dentist for regular check ups since a child (I'm 60s now) then my Dentist went private.
I have rung endless dentists in all of the surrounding towns and further afield. No one taking on NHS patients. I know I am not alone in this.
I emailed my local (Tory) MP to ask what plans they had to address this issue.
She merely said they were aware of the issue and I should contact NHS England directly.
I did and they told me to try contacting dentists outside my immediate area even though I told them I had 🙄

DH has had one of his back teeth break in half horizontally a few days ago, saw private dentist today and it will cost around 2k to fix that tooth and fill others.

They do offer interest free payment plans but fortunately we have savings to cover entirely.

Yes I used that link. Thank you though!

There was one on the list yesterday that said accepting NHS so I called them and they have put my on there waiting list.

Really odd though as when I looked at the same link today it’s been changed to ‘not taken NHS’ (or something like that). Strange!

But I’m on the list and They said they were hoping to open it up for NHS within 6 months!! Fingers crossed.

I actually have to go to Spain for work in a couple of days time.

Toying with the idea of walking into a dentist there and paying!

This is how it is now. Me and my child have been on the waiting list for 5 years and still nothing. You also can't get emergency dental appointments where we are anymore. Well you can, but they never have anything available.

My husband had this issue a while back and all he could do was take as much codeine as he could and drink whiskey until he saved up enough to go private. It's no wonder there are news reports of people ripping their own teeth out.

I had a broken molar end of April, my NHS dentist had gone private and had booted me off the books unbeknownst to me. Phone the NHS helpline and there wasn’t anything they could do to help. Took 8 weeks to even be seen by a private dentist and none would look at an emergency non patient, so I had to wait for one. When I was finally was seen and had it extracted and it cost £400. NHS emergency dental doesn’t seem to exist at all anymore and the private system seems to be under massive strain too.

Moved house, had to change dentist, no NHS ones in new area were accepting new patients so I signed up for private. with a dental insurance plan.

I wish I'd done this years ago. The cost is not extortionate (£36 per month) and so far that has covered all treatments, xrays etc; it includes 6 monthly checkups and hygeinist, very pleasant modern facilities, I can get an appointment any time including short notice and the service is great.

So essentially you are paying £36 a month instead of £12 every 6 months for nhs dentist and that's reasonable ?

Is that just you or does a family of 4 have to choose between dentistry and heating ?

I worked for 111and it really depends on the area you're in to be honest. It works differently around the country. You tend to get a callback from a dental nurse who may have some numbers you can try calling in an emergency or they may be able to book you an appointment but this is very rare. It's a government issue but unfortunately us call handlers at 111 get the brunt of the abuse about it 😕

It's a government issue and also a cost/ tax issue

Read the thread on inheritance tax - which could be a way to raise additional taxes without coming out of the pocket of ordinary , often struggling families -nobody wants more taxes so we end up paying more a month in private dental fees than most people would pay in their lives on inheritance tax

You have to call back at 8am

Is that a bupa plan?

Denplan should be about £23 a month on average, including routine checks, x-rays and hygienist a few times a year.

OP - have you been given the number for NHS emergency dentist in your area, for people in pain who don't have a dentist? If not, if you ring any dentist they'll have the number for whoever has the contract for this.

My nearest NHS dentist with supposed vacancies is 200 miles away, and we've been kicked off the books as our dentist decided to quit NHS 🙄

To be fair to the dentists the issue is with the way the government pays them for NHS work- it means it’s not worth their while. That’s what needs sorting out.

Yes, it's currently loss-making

My area has one (1) NHS dentist per 10000 (ten thousand) people. In fact it's probably worse than that now because I read that statistic in December.

It's impossible to get an appointment.

That’s probably not a bad idea OP, I work with lots of people from Europe and they all go back for dentist appointments!

Whilst it might not help the OP, if you live in London you can go to Guy's or Bart's for emergency dental care.
They also offer work done by supervised undergraduates

I recently read (on Facebook so it must be true!) that a local resident was offered an appointment in Basingstoke, which is over 70 miles away.

I was in a similar situation to you some years ago and whacked an emergency appointment at a private dentist on my credit card. I then had to get my teeth "up to scratch" (which luckily wasn't too expensive) and now pay a monthly DenPlan fee. It's a shade under £30 a month but I figure with the way things are with the NHS that I don't have a choice. It also actively encourages me to go for check ups and hygienist appointments as I've already paid for them.

I'm an NHS dentist, for the time being. As others have said the contract is unsustainable, we can't afford to do NHS work and run the business.

Please write to your MP and complain about the lack of NHS dental access, they are the only ones who can change things.

We need major contract reform, the talk about forcing new graduates to work for the NHS won't work as practices aren't owned by the NHS they are privately owned businesses with a contract to provide NHS care and it has to be viable.

@Jimminir calling 111 after 6pm will give you better access to emergency slots, you will be triaged, in the daytime you'll be told to call NHS and private practices. You may get lucky with NHS practices we will see people if we have a space. Currently NHS dentistry is in a rotten state.