Toothache and no NHS Dentists accepting new patients in my area

[MaydinEssex]

Hi, this is my first post, not sure if anyone can give me any advice, I've pretty much explored every avenue going and still no joy. In a nutshell, I moved to a new county 3 years ago, up until then I'd always kept up to date with having regular dental checkups, in fact I had my last one just before moving house, so when I attempted to find a dentist in my new county (a few months after we moved and we were now in the midst of a pandemic) I couldn't find anyone to accept me, the pandemic eased off, but try and try again and no dentist in my area was accepting new NHS patients, if I paid to go private, they would see me, but as I'm on a low income due to having a disability I am not in a position to pay, anyway, I've done my best to look after my teeth, use good toothpaste and mouthwash, floss and keep my teeth as clean as possible, but now I'm in trouble as I have developed a bad toothache, I can't find any dentist who will accept me! Apparently they will treat an emergency, but if you need further ongoing treatment they won't allow you to join their practice, I have no idea what to do, at this rate I can see myself becoming a toothless hag before too long, I might have to numb my gums with brandy and pull the offending tooth out myself

Why don’t you go and have your dental emergency managed anyway? Get you out of pain

You call NHS 111 and answer their questions. You rate the pain level as high and communicate that it is severe and stopping you from completing day to day tasks. This makes it an ‘emergency’. It doesn’t mean you have had an urgent accident with a cricket ball or whatever.

A dentist will phone you back for a consultation, then you will get an emergency appointment at a local centrist hub. They will only do what is necessary to stop the pain (an emergency temporary filling, for example) rather than something long term. They can also prescribe antibiotics.

No NHS dentist here and had to repeat this process a few times when pregnant. Very good care but time consuming.

You don’t know what is wrong with your tooth. It might be solved with an emergency filling (they can last 6 months) or a dentist may pull the tooth. Either way, call NHS 111.

Up date... I spent 2 hours on the phone today trying to book an emergency appointment with the dentists NHS England told me to contact last night, none of them would see me, even though by now my face has swollen and I'm thinking I have another gum infection so more than likely need some antibiotics. I then phoned nhs 111 and spoke to several advisors who basically told me to phone the dentists I had just phoned this morning, anyway after an hour or so of getting passed from pillar to post I've been told there is nothing they can do, if it gets worse to go to A&E, but they won't have to treat me as its a dental matter. So I'm having a cup of tea and weighing up the only two options I can think of, one is to suck it up and pay the extortionate prices for an emergency private appointment at one of the dentists who can't see anymore nhs patients but can see private ones, or to travel 100 miles to where I used to live and see the dentist I used to belong to. I'm not really in the position to do either as I'm on a limited income and can barely afford it, but on the other hand I can't put up with it much longer, oh how I miss the days of NHS dental treatment being freely available.

Because I can't afford the luxury of paying privately, trying to juggle my finances at the moment to see if its possible.

I would travel 100 miles if you’re still on the old dentists books. The travel cost will be cheaper than private dentist plus you will get removed off their books if you don’t go once a year (you might be off already) and you might need them again in the future.

I've booked an appointment at my old practice, it's not until the beginning of November but at least I'm booked in, meanwhile if this tooth gets any worse then I'll have to go private and worry about the cost afterwards, but it seems to have settled down at the moment, so I'm hoping it stays that way, my face still looks puffy, but it's not so painful (that could be the cocktail of meds I'm on for my Osteoarthritis)

Do you live in a city with a dental hospital?

You can get stuff done free there by supervised students.

No unfortunately not