Finding NHS Dentist Finder Information has never been easier. NHS is short for the British National Health Service, a publicly funded healthcare system that operates in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Only the English NHS can officially be called the National Health Service, the others are now termed NHS Wales, NHS Scotland and in Northern Ireland it is called “Social Care” or HSC and not the NHS. Each of the four systems operates as a separate entity, although they are all financed and run by each government: the Welsh Parliament, Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, (0verseen by the UK government).

NHS dentists are dental practitioners who will treat NHS patients, which means that patient pays only token amounts. In the case of children, the unemployed, retired people and pregnant women, they pay none of their dental charges. See below (on this page) for the panel on NHS charges.

The NHS Dentist Finder website supports the NHS and believes it is the best healthcare system in the world. But successive UK governments have diluted its value. When the UK government introduced a new contract for NHS dentists in the spring of 2006, it reduced many people’s access to NHS dentistry in a stroke. Within two years 900,000 fewer patients were seeing an NHS dentist and 300,000 people lost access to their NHS dentist in a single month. Many people were forced to move to private treatment, which is much more expensive. Even so the NHS is a valued resource in the UK: you could find that even the Best Cosmetic Dentist will also work on the NHS.

NHS Dentist Finder: How To Find An NHS Dentist

In theory, to receive NHS dental treatment, all you have to do is contact a neighbourhood practice that is happy to provide NHS dentistry and simply ask for an appointment “on the NHS”. If you are unsure whether or not the practice you select, will want to provide NHS care for you, just ask. Any dentist that only operates a private practice on the NHS Dentist Finder website is marked with a bold red P, like this: P.

NHS Dentist Finder Information: NHS Dental Charges

As of April 2011, NHS dentistry charges in England and Wales are:

• Band 1 course of treatment – £17.00 (Wales £12). This covers the initial examination, diagnosis (including X-rays), a scale and polish if needed, and application of fluoride varnish or fissure sealant, plus the dentist’s advice on how to prevent future problems from developing. Should you require urgent care, you will only be required to pay one Band 1 charge, even if your urgent treatment needs several appointments to complete.
• Band 2 course of treatment – £47.00 (Wales £39). This payment covers everything in Band 1 (see above), as well as any further treatment, including fillings, root canal work or tooth extractions.
• Band 3 course of treatment – £204.00 (Wales £177). This includes everything listed in Bands 1 and 2 (see above), plus the provision and fitting of dentures, crowns, and bridges.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the charges are different and NHS patients, who pay for their treatment, usually pay 80% of the treatment costs (which includes to cost of any x-rays), up to a ceiling of £384.

NHS Dentist Finder Information: Private Treatments

The majority of UK dentists provide both NHS and private treatment for their patients. On the plus side, this means that you can have basic work to keep your teeth healthy performed on the NHS, with any cosmetic work you may want done privately, without having to be treated by two different dentists, whose approaches may differ. The negative aspect of this is that some dentists will try and push you to have private work performed on your teeth that you may not have wanted.

Sometimes what is cosmetic and what is available freely under the NHS is not always made clear to the patient. Many (including the people at the NHS Dentist Finder website) believe that the 2006 Dental Contract was made deliberately vague and does not give patients any detailed guidance on exactly what treatment is available on the NHS. NHS regulations state that treatment must be “necessary” – and much is by choice rather than necessity. But what a patient might feel is necessary (such as a bridge) may have a more basic but adequate alternative (e.g. partial denture) available under the National Health Service.

The NHS Dentist Finder website is here to help you get the best out of your NHS Dentist. Please bookmark us and return often.
The NHS Dentist Finder is a guide to helping you get the best out of your NHS dentist. To start with, the NHS Dentist Finder website will help you find a dentist in your area prepared to treat you on the NHS (or your local equivalent), focusing especially on areas of the UK with the biggest problems finding an NHS dentist.

NHS Dentist Finder Facts:

There are something like  21,000 NHS dentists in England alone, with around the same number spread out among Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Tooth decay is perhaps the UK’s most serious and widespread health problem. It has been estimated that between 52% and 77% of all children aged between eight and fifteen have obvious tooth decay and that 55% of all British adults have one or more decayed tooth.

Our NHS Dentist Finder guides covers the following areas (click on the link to access the information), with more being researched and prepared all the time:

Dentists in Aberdeen | Dentists in Birmingham
Dentists in Brighton | Dentists In Bristol
Dentists in Cardiff | Dentists in Edinburgh
Dentists in Kent | Dentists in Leeds
Dentists in Leicester | Dentists in London
Dentists in Manchester | Dentists in Nottingham
Dentists in Plymouth | Dentists In Scotland
Dentists in Sheffield | Dentists in Southampton
Dentists in Wales

Please bookmark this page and return often to check out our new pages. We are currently working on pages about:

NHS Emergency Dentist | Cosmetic Dentist
Become A Dentist | Dental Implants NHS

NHS Dentist Finder Guide – What Is Tooth Decay?

Tooth decay is when a tooth rots and has to be treated. Our mouths are full of bacteria, which can get together with saliva and tiny particles of what we’ve eaten  to make a sticky film that builds up over our teeth. This is called plaque. When we eat foods that are high in sugars and starches (called carbohydrates), the bacteria in plaque feed on the carbohydrates and produces acid, which – over time – breaks down the surface of the tooth.

Unless it is treated, the plaque can completely eat away at the outside of the tooth (the enamel) and expose the nerves inside. When this happens, you get toothache. At this stage many people try to contact an Emergency Dentist, when it would have been much more sensible to keep up simple dental care to prevent the tooth decay. Unless you go to a dentist to get it looked at, when it reaches this advanced stage of decay, your tooth will drop out.

NHS Dentist Finder Guide – Does The UK’s Water Contain Fluoride?

Although there is a great myth that the UK’s water supply is being fed fluoride, less than 10% has enough fluoride contained in it to in any way affect your teeth. In contrast, in the Republic of Ireland, 71% of the population received fluoridated water. The following water companies are active in this: Anglian Water Services Ltd, Northumbrian Water Ltd, Severn Trent plc, South Staffordshire Water plc, and United Utilities Water plc.

NHS Dentist Finder Guide – Dentist’s Qualifications:

To become a dentist, you have to undergo extensive training, which is the same, whether you intend to practice in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Dentists must complete 5 years of undergraduate study to earn a BChD or BDS degree. To receive full NHS registration, the majority of dentists will enter a vocational training scheme (VT) of up to two years length. They then have to register with the G.D.C. (General Dental Council), who are the dental profession’s governing body, before being allowed to practice.