Dental Services

Dental Services

Patients should be aware of dental services available locally to manage emergency dental conditions, including:

Emergency dental services

  • GPs are not responsible for treating dental problems.
  • Patients should be advised to contact local emergency dental services or the emergency department.
  • General dental practitioners have an ethical responsibility to provide access to emergency treatment outside normal hours.
  • Having established an apparent dental problem, GPs or practice teams should direct the patient to a dentist or local emergency service, or refer them to secondary care.
  • If the patient has no usual dentist or there is no response from the usual dentist, the patient should contact NHS 111 (England)
  • Patients presenting with signs of spreading infection or systemic involvement of a dental infection should be referred immediately to secondary care for appropriate surgical management.

Prescribing

This guidance applies to patients seeking an NHS prescription following the issue of a private prescription or recommendation of a drug by a dentist.

  • Dentists are obliged to issue NHS prescriptions to NHS patients where required.
  • Dentists have a duty of care to issue private prescriptions to private patients.
  • If a legitimate need for an NHS prescription cannot be established, it should not be provided.