If you have been told by a member of our team that you are unable to get routine NHS dental care appointment as you have not attended for your oral health assessment within 2 year’s it is explained below the reason why.

There is no such thing as registration with an NHS dentist and there has not been since 2006. If you are not undergoing a course of treatment, dentists are of no obligation to see a patient for an appointment. Due to the demand and capacity in NHS dentistry at the moment we are unable to see every patient. We do try and keep appointments available for regular attenders. The boundaries as to what is classed as a regular attender must be set somewhere and the timeline suggested by the NHS England is 2 years. We are simply following their guidelines.

We are now in a position where we are able to begin to send out reminders for appointments. However our reminders are sent out as a courtesy and NOT a requirement. We feel that patients must take some responsibility to book regular oral health assessment and not rely solely on reminders.

As you are aware NHS Dentistry and our staff are under a lot of pressure and we are doing our best to look after our patients. We will NOT tolerate any form of abuse to our staff as they are following guidelines and policies that have been put in place.