Attending Your Appointment

You may qualify for free NHS dental treatment if you are:

• Under 18 years of age
• 18 years of age and in full time education
• Pregnant or had a baby within the last 12 months (Please bring your valid NHS maternity exemption card to your appointment)

or if during the course of treatment you are receiving:

• Income Support (Incapacity benefit and Disability Living Allowance does NOT count)
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (Contribution-based does NOT count)
• Income-related Employment & Support Allowance (Contribution-based does NOT count)
• Pension Credit Guarantee Credit (Savings Credit on its own does NOT count)
• Universal Credit (If in the last assessment period there were no earnings or earnings were within the allowed limit, please check at www.nhs.uk/healthcosts)

or if you are named on one of the following certificates that is valid during your course of treatment:

• HC2 Certificate
• NHS Tax Credit Exemption Certificate/Card (Please note: you are not automatically entitled because you receive Tax Credit; there are qualifying conditions. Please check at www.nhs.uk/healthcosts. If you qualify you will be sent an exemption certificate/card)

• You MUST provide evidence/proof of your exemption from NHS Dental Charges at the start of EVERY course of dental treatment when you sign a Patient Record ("blue") form.
• In cases where no proof is provided, this will be documented as 'NO PROOF'.
• The patient is responsible for the accuracy of their claim, NOT the dental practice
• If you are not certain you are entitled to receive free or reduced cost dental services you MUST pay the dental practice.
• If you subsequently confirm you that you are entitled to free or reduced cost dental services, you can claim a refund from the NHS.
• If you have applied for a qualifying benefit or exemption certificate, but have not yet received it, you MUST pay and claim a refund when/if you do receive it.
• In above cases where you may be entitled to a refund, please request an NHS Refund Form from our receptionist. Refunds are obtained from the NHS and cannot be provided by the practice.

Checks on claims are undertaken to confirm you are entitled. Incorrect claims for free or reduced cost NHS dental services will result in a penalty charge of up to £100 in addition to the cost of the NHS dental services received. In cases of incorrect claims, you will not have the opportunity to pay for the NHS dental services first to avoid the penalty charge.

Please note all claims that are documented 'no proof' are checked by the NHS Business Services Authority for validation.

If you've been informed by a member of our team that you're unable to schedule a routine NHS dental care appointment due to not attending for a routine check-up within the past two years, we'd like to provide clarification on this matter.

It's important to understand that since 2006, there's no such thing as "registration" with an NHS dentist. Unless you are actively undergoing a course of treatment, dentists aren't obligated to see you for an appointment if they do not have the capacity to do so. Given the current demand and capacity in NHS dentistry, we're unable to accommodate every patient. The NHS England guidelines suggest a timeline of two years to define regular attendance, and we adhere to these boundaries.

We have specific 'examination appointment' slots which enable us to manage our appointment book accordingly and ensure we can get patients booked in for treatment within a timely manner. When these slots are full, there is no additional capacity unless we are able to recruit additional dentists, which is currently challenging due to nationwide NHS dentist shortages.

Booking for NHS Appointments

Our NHS appointment book for routine examinations opens two months in advance, on the first working day of each month.

For example:

• Bookings for September 2025 will open on 1^st July 2025
• Bookings for October 2025 will open on 1^st August 2025, etc

This system is designed to prevent excessively advanced bookings and to ensure fairer access for all patients.

How to Book

Appointments can be booked:

• By telephone
• In person at reception

Appointments cannot be booked via email, due to the live, dynamic nature of our appointment book.

Please be aware:

We experience extremely high call volumes during booking release periods. If our telephone queue is full, your call may not connect. Please keep trying—your call will be answered as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

NHS Waiting List for New Patients

We are trialling a capped NHS waiting list for new NHS routine patients, or those who have not attended for an NHS routine examination in the last 2 years. This will initially be limited to 100 patients, as we assess potential future capacity. If you would like to be added to this list, please call us:

• Patients will be contacted in strict order of joining as and when NHS slots become available.
• We will update our website when the waiting list is open or closed, so please monitor this page regularly.

For more information click here

Private Dental Options

We currently have limited private dental capacity. If you would prefer quicker access to care, please speak to our reception team about joining our private dental plan or click here