“Out of hours” dental emergency appointments – your brief guideline
Securing an emergency dental appointment on short notice
When you are experiencing a serious dental problem or severe pain in the tooth or the mouth the best thing for you is to see a dentist as early as you can make it. There is a good thing regarding these difficult situations – dental surgeries eagerly cater to the needs of patients suffering in these situations. But still the questions persist somewhere in the mind – what do you need to do to get an emergency dental appointment on short notice? And if you do not get an emergency appointment, what should you do in that case?
Getting an emergency dental appointment on the NHS
Before you try getting an emergency dental appointment on the NHS it is important for you to assess the nature of the emergency. If there is an injury in the mouth, uncontrolled bleeding or profuse swelling that affects parts of the head or the face then the best thing to do is walking directly into the A&E of a local hospital to secure treatment. Why A&E, you may ask. These types of conditions could be more serious than they apparently appear. So, chances are high that you may require proper medical assistance than just dental treatment. So, it is more sensible to visit the A&E of your nearest hospital.
Now you may assess that a visit to the A&E is not required. In that case you should get in touch with your regular dentist or the dental surgery where you are a registered patient. They may provide you with an emergency dental appointment. A registered dental professional having years of experience in handling orthodontic emergency cases in London says usually the surgeries keep a few appointment slots free throughout the day to tackle cases like yours. Thus, they can usually accommodate patients with emergency appointments on short notices. However, availability of an emergency dental appointment for a patient could be affected certain factors that cannot be anticipated beforehand. The factors include absence of staffs on a given day, overrunning other normal appointments and others.
Keeping your fingers crossed you should always check with your regular dental practice. You never know they may accommodate you in some way or the other when you least expect to make it. It is also probable that you may require an emergency dental appointment during “out of hours” period. What you should do in that scenario? Dental surgeries in the United Kingdom maintain an answer phone messaging system to support patients who require care and treatment out of hours. These telephone answering systems actually provide patients with more detailed and useful information about what they should do when they urgently require a dental appointment in the middle of the night.
On the other hand, one may not be registered with any surgery as a patient. in fact, it is not mandatory that one must be registered as a patient with some surgery or the other. Those people, who are not registered at any surgery as patients, have a couple of options to get an emergency dental appointment.
They can access the NHS and search the “Find a dentist” service. This service is all about using a user-friendly database where you feed in your local area or postcode based on which it shows a list of dental practices near you. In the next step you have to try calling these surgeries one at a time till you come across one that has an emergency appointment slot available. An orthodontist providing “out of hours” treatment in London says there is no need for you to register with that surgery, especially if you require urgent care and treatment then such patients do not need registering themselves.
The alternative option is to call the NHS helpline 111 and talk to the advisor. This helpline is indeed a useful resource when it comes to getting access to information on dental practices near you. This helpline also provides information on the surgeries that provide “out of hours” service. They even suggest you steps or actions to help manage your symptoms until you get an appointment.
When you should visit an emergency dentist
You should see an emergency dentist when you suffer from any of the following conditions. It is important to remember dental emergency appointments should be preserved for people who really need it.
⦁ Acute pain in the tooth or the mouth that holds you back from sleeping
⦁ Swelling of the gum or the face
⦁ Ulceration in the mouth that lingers over two weeks
⦁ A tooth completely knocked out of its socket
⦁ A chipped or partially broken tooth that causes pain
⦁ Uncontrolled bleeding for over 20 minutes resulting from extraction of a tooth
Every incident related to your oral health is not an emergency. There are several dental conditions in which you should book a normal appointment. Some of those conditions are as following –
⦁ Sensitivity in the tooth
⦁ Bleeding gums
⦁ A chipped or partially broken tooth that does not cause any pain
⦁ Minor pain in the tooth
⦁ Ulceration in the mouth that lingers just over a week
An orthodontist who offers emergency appointments to patients says it is utmost important to brush and floss the teeth properly every day. This keeps your overall mouth healthy and disease-free in the long run. If you are unsure whether your brushing and flossing techniques are correct then you should request your dentist or dental hygienist to demonstrate the right approach.
Are dental emergency services free?
When the overwhelming majority of people in the UK are concerned, dental care is not free. As such chances are high that you have to pay for your emergency dental appointment. if any additional treatment is required then you have to pay for that as well. This is true for both private and the NHS dentists although their prices will vary widely.
Cost of dental emergency care
When you go for an emergency dental appointment your dentist focuses only on the issue in hand. In other words, you cannot expect a full check up in those appointments. When you get in touch with your chosen surgery to book your dental emergency appointment, they will tell you about their cost and make it clear how much you can expect to pay for your treatment assures an emergency orthodontic in London. The NHS has a standard cost of treatment whereas the price of emergency dental treatments from private dentists at 1A Orthodontics, London varies widely based on several factors.