Under the NHS you are entitled to any treatment required to maintain your dental health including the fitting of crowns, bridges and dentures.
If you require NHS dental treatment, you need to find a dentist in your area that is contracted to provide NHS treatment and who is accepting new patients.
To offer NHS services a dental practice must have a contract with the local Primary Care Trust to provide NHS treatment.
To locate a dentist in your area follow this link or telephone NHS Direct on 111.
For more information on finding a dentist including what to do if you cannot find a dentist follow this link.
If you are unable to find an NHS dentist who is accepting new patients, ask NHS Direct if there's a waiting list in your area you can go on.
You are not required to register with a dentist in order to get NHS treatment and your dentist should keep a list of regular patients and provide ongoing treatment and care.
The dentist will perform you a check-up and provide you with a treatment plan of what needs doing and how much it will cost.
There are three standard charges for a course of NHS dental treatment, depending on the amount of treatment needed and these will be displayed in your dentist's waiting room. Some treatment is not available on the NHS and can only be done privately, for example teeth whitening.
Free NHS dental treatment
Depending on your age and circumstances you may be entitled to free NHS dental treatment.
For full details of who is entitled to free dental care follow this link.
NHS Dental services
Full details of NHS Dental services including charges, exemptions and help with dental costs can be found at this link.
Downloadable guides to NHS Dental Services are available at the following links:
Comprehensive information on dental health and looking after your teeth can be found at the following links:
Guide to Dentistry in England
A comrehensive guide, "Dentistry in England Explained", is available from The Kings Fund.
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