Cost of dentist query

[JayBag]

I've been on the waiting list at several dentists for a while now and have had no luck being registered. Roll on yesterday and my mouth is agony so I phoned up to chase my registration yesterday (they can't say how long it will take) today i phoned to see if I can get an emergency appointment.
I've got an appointment with no problem however because I'm not currently registered I am not entitled to use my maternity or tax credit exemption and it will cost £££
Does any one know if this is standard or if this is just the rules of this particular dentist? Thankyou

Sounds standard for being a private patient. Be wary of them registering you from now as a private patient because you may not get back on the NHS waiting list with that practice.

I suspect the registration isn't taking ages, its the availability of an NHS place.

Yes this is correct. DD is registered with an NHS dentist at home but needed treatment quickly whilst at Uni. She just made an appointment with a local dentist but was charged private rates so £150 for a check up and filling rather than about £56-ish under the NHS.

Thankyou for you're quick reply! I suspect you may be right and I'll bare that in mind when they try to register me

You should be able to get an emergency appt through the NHS Emergency dental central system- each dentist takes turns to be the emergency one, so they'll just send you to whichever one, but they'll only treat if you're in pain, and they'll only do minimal work to stop the pain (often pull out the tooth, put in a temp filling and give antibiotics etc)

You should be able to get an emergency appt through the NHS Emergency dental central system- each dentist takes turns to be the emergency one, so they'll just send you to whichever one, but they'll only treat if you're in pain, and they'll only do minimal work to stop the pain (often pull out the tooth, put in a temp filling and give antibiotics etc)

Hi BrucesTooth I was just coming back to update that I've managed to get an appointment through the NHS
Thankyou all for you help

Brucestooth this "central system" may be a thing where you live but I've not experienced it in any region or county I've ever worked in and none of my friends have ever worked under this system.

Emergency care is tendered for, either by practices (who will then provide a certain number of units of activity per year) or by the trust who will run dental access centres. It's not as simple as just being the duty emergency dentist. In fact, the system is so difficult to navigate, I had to close my emergency sessions after ten years last year. AFAIK, no one has successfully tendered to replace me on the NHS. Plenty of private providers tho...

That said, 111 will know who is providing care and where so as OP said, that's a good bet.

Just be aware of giving your "advice" when it's clear you know little about the reality, unmet expectations lead to disappointment after all.

Thanks for letting me know mrsmorton, my mistake as that's the system I had used and wasn't aware it wasn't universal. Glad it is the same in some places though.