Access to health service dentistry is currently very difficult, particularly for unregistered patients, and this is likely to be the case for some time.
If you are registered with a dentist
- If you experience an emergency or urgent dental condition on a weekday, you should contact your own dentist in the first instance, preferably in the morning.
- At weekends and bank holidays, you should contact your own dental practice, which will outline what out-of-hours arrangements they have in place and how to access an appointment at an Emergency Dental Clinic, if appropriate.
If you are not registered with a dentist
Weekdays
- In the first instance you should contact practices in your local area directly and ask if they have any appointments available. You might have to check with a high number of dental practices and/or be prepared to travel outside of their local area in order to find a practice who can offer you an appointment.
- If you are unable to access an appointment, a pilot scheme (known as the PUPAS scheme) is currently running to provide a small number of appointments to unregistered patients who require emergency dental treatment during the working week.
- If you are not registered with a dentist, require emergency dental treatment, and have been unable to access an appointment, you should contact your local SPPG office. The SPPG offices cannot arrange appointments for you but will provide you with the best advice available to them including the contact details of the pilot practices. You should then contact the pilot practices directly to see if they have any appointments available.
| Trust | Telephone |
| Northern Office | 028 9536 2812 |
| Belfast / South Eastern Office | 028 9536 3926 |
| Western Office | 028 9536 1010 |
| Southern Office | 028 9536 2104 |
- The School of Dentistry runs an Urgent Student Clinic during term time and accepts referrals from unregistered patients requiring emergency or urgent dental treatment. Details, including how to self-refer online, can be found at Dental services | Belfast Health & Social Care Trust website (hscni.net)
Weekends and Bank Holidays
- At weekends and bank holidays, you should contact the Emergency Dental Clinics (EDCs) directly at 028 25663510. Telephone lines are open from 8.00am to 12 noon.
- Telephone calls will be directed to a dentist for triage and if deemed clinically necessary, advice or treatment at an EDC will be provided for the following dental conditions:
- Dental swelling (spreading infection).
- Trauma to teeth arising from an external force.
- Uncontrolled bleeding following extraction.
- Severe dental pain not controlled by over the counter medications.
- Please note – as there is high demand for out-of-hours appointments patients may have to travel outside their area for treatment slots.
- Patients should not attend any site without an arranged appointment
- Normal General Dental Service charges will be payable at the EDCs
Patients requesting non-urgent or routine care will not be seen as part of the pilot or at an EDC and should follow the advice here to register with a dentist – Registering as a Health Service dental patient – DOH/HSCNI Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG)