Dental problems

Hi,

I'm in the UK on a fiance visa and recently one of my teeth started bothering me a lot. I have no idea how it works with dentists here and neither does my fiance since he's not been in to see one since he was a kid. I'm due to go back to the US for a visit in 2 weeks and was trying to figure out if I should try to tough it out and hope it doesn't get worse, tough it out but try to get antibiotics, or go to a dentist here. Any advice would be helpful

Have you registered with the NHS yet?  Once you are in the system, you need to call around and find a dentist that not only is accepting new patients but also patients who are with NHS.  Once you find one, then you simply make an appointment according to whatever their policies are.  It took me about 30 phone calls to find a dentist who would accept me and then they made me an appointment for about three weeks later.  If you tell them you are having problems, you may get in quicker.  Good luck! 

You'd be dead lucky to find an NHS dentist. You may have to go private. You can call around to the dentists in your area, or see if there is a dental hospital nearby.

Some areas have plenty of NHS dentists. Quickest way to find out is to ring your local Primary Care Trust. They can give you names of places closest to you that are taking new patients.

In Bristol, the NHS has paid to have advertisements on the sides of buses saying "Looking for an NHS dentist? Call this number!" I can't recall the number right now, but I don't think, therefore, that it's completely impossible to find one.

Thanks for the help Anyone know if you can register for NHS at a dentist or do you need to go to a GP to do that? And if forced to go private does anyone know of a good one in the Notts area?

Thanks for the help Anyone know if you can register for NHS at a dentist or do you need to go to a GP to do that? And if forced to go private does anyone know of a good one in the Notts area?

The biggest thing you need to do is call around to the dentists that are listed as accepting NHS patients.  The list you will get from the PCT will not be current.  It's not so much as "getting an NHS dentist" it's getting an appointment that is billed to the NHS with a dentist who works with the NHS.  The problem is that once you get an NHS appointment, then you book the next appointment right away, even if it is a year away and because all current NHS patients do that, then there are very few appointments left for new patients.  There are only so many NHS  appointments (units) allocated per practice so you have to find the dentist who has some units available for that first appointment.  Then you can book your next and so on, and so on.  It really is just getting on the phone and it may not be a dentist who is in your area either. 

The list you will get from the PCT will not be current. 

Depends on the PCT, I have to say.  Our PCT's list of dentists with openings is updated very frequently by staff who call all the dentists to check for openings, so they have the most up to date information for the city. The info on NHS Choices online usually lags behind the list that our PCT keeps, though.

The list you will get from the PCT will not be current. 

Ahem. As the person who was running the department that produced that list for Buckinghamshire, I can assure you that this is not the case with all PCTs. We did bi-weekly ring-rounds to make sure the information we give out to patients is up-to-date and correct.

ETA: Sorry, didn't read springhaze's response before typing. 

The problem is that once you get an NHS appointment, then you book the next appointment right away, even if it is a year away and because all current NHS patients do that,

That depends on the dentist. If you need a course of treatment you'll need to book all of the appointments in advance because all of the appointments will be included on the fee you pay. But if you just need a check up in 6 months or a year, not all dentists will make you book in advance - many will just send you a reminder card. If the dentist manages his units properly, depending on their capacity they should be able to keep the appointments flowing throughout the year.

And if it's an emergency (which is defined as intense pain accompanied by swelling) dentists are generally contractually obligated to get you out of pain by offering an emergency appointment. This may mean that they only bring you in, give you antibiotics, or a temporary filling and then tell you to find a dentist who can take you on as a regular patient, but they'll at least get you out of pain.