Urgent Dental Care Appointments
Extra urgent dental appointments available
Extra appointments are now available for people in Cheshire and Merseyside who need urgent dental care – including for those who don’t have a usual dentist.
These appointments are part of the £700,000 extra urgent dental appointments being rolled out across the country, announced by the government in February 2025.
As part of this, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside has been allocated funding for an additional 46,000 urgent appointments per year and these are now at 124 local dental practices, which is around a third of all practices providing NHS dentistry in the region.
The appointments are for urgent conditions, including any of the following symptoms:
- Severe toothache: persistent and intense pain that cannot be managed with over-the-counter painkillers.
- Dental abscess: infection causing swelling, pain, and possibly fever.
- Broken or knocked-out tooth: trauma resulting in a fractured or completely dislodged tooth.
- Bleeding in mouth following a dental procedure or an injury that doesn’t stop by itself but can be self-controlled using local measures. Note that if bleeding cannot be self-controlled in any way, emergency care may be necessary.
- Swelling: significant swelling in the mouth or face that could indicate an infection.
- Fractured, loose or displaced fillings causing pain.
- Severe bleeding from gums, or acute conditions affecting other soft areas of the mouth (such as cheeks or tongue) which require urgent treatment.
- Other treatments may be available at the discretion of the dentist. These treatments may require extra visits and costs.
People do not need to be registered to a dental practice in order to access this care.
Anyone who requires urgent dental help can access an appointment by visiting NHS111 or by calling the Cheshire and Merseyside dental helpline on 0161 475 9561
