What to do if you need an emergency dental appointment?

Sometimes disaster strikes and you need to see a dentist as soon as possible. This can be for a number of reasons.

• You might have had an accident and knocked out a tooth.
• You might have lost a filling.
• You might have cracked or chipped a tooth.
• You might be experiencing severe pain due to an abscess or infection.

Whatever the reason, we understand that sometimes you need to see a dentist right away. Your first port of call should always be to phone your usual dentist to see how quickly they can see you.

In an emergency situation your dentist will do whatever they can to get you an appointment the same day. However, this can be tricky if it’s later on in the day or if it’s during a particularly busy time. Of course, emergency dental incidents often happen outside of usual practice hours, in which case your dental practice won’t be able to help.

If you can’t get an appointment with your usual dentist, either because it’s out of hours or because they aren’t able to fit you in, don’t panic. The best thing to do next is to call 111 for a dental out of hours appointment. You’ll be asked to explain your dental problem, then the call handler will make an appointment for you.

Alternatively, you may choose to skip dialling 111 and just visit one of our NHS walk-in-centres instead. If you have a dental emergency, you can just head straight to one of our walk-in-centres, with no appointment needed. Our team guarantee to be able to see you that day, but there may be a waiting period during busier times.

Our following practices are NHS walk-in-centres:

Damira Shirley, Hampshire

The emergency procedure may vary from practice to practice so please read the correct emergency procedure for your local Damira Dental practice here.