General Dental Service

There are many dental practices within NHS Tayside that provide NHS dental care. To receive dental treatment under the National Health Service, you need to register with a dentist who provides NHS care. Registration begins at the first check up appointment, not when you ask to go on the dentist’s list. Babies should be registered from birth. All dentists who provide NHS care have leaflets explaining their services.

NHS Tayside cannot assign you to a dentist but can provide lists of dentists accepting new NHS patients. Dentists have the right to choose whether or not to accept you. To find out who is accepting new NHS patients, phone the NHS Tayside Dental Advice Line on 01382 596982.  This information can also be found on the main dental services page of this website and is updated regularly.

Registration with a dentist entitles you to emergency treatment and is open ended, but you can be removed from a dentist’s list if you miss appointments, attend late or fail to pay any patient fees that apply. There is no set fee for this.

The General Dental Service provides the majority of NHS dental treatment through independent, family dentists throughout Tayside. Independent practitioners may provide NHS, private or mixed treatment.

For NHS care, patients register with an individual dentist. Check ups are free of charge, but x rays, scale and polish etc all have a patient charge. If a check up shows that course of treatment is needed, an itemised estimate will be given at the check up appointment. Independent dentists see their own patient emergencies through the week. At weekends and Christmas and New Year Public Holidays they participate in the NHS Tayside Out of Hours service, through NHS24.

At your first appointment, your dentist will create a new record for you. Dental records do not follow you from one dentist to another, but you can ask for a summary of treatment when you move dentists. There is a charge for this.

There is a set scale of fees for NHS dental treatment. Unless you are exempt from NHS charges, or have a certificate that entitles you to a reduced charge, you will pay 80% of the NHS fee for any treatment up to a limit that is set every year by the Scottish Government.

The NHS check up is free, but NHS charges apply to any x-rays or other treatment. At each check up, the dentist will provide you with a written treatment plan and estimate of the costs. It may be necessary to amend the treatment plan as work progresses. The dentist will discuss any changes as they occur.

At the time you accept the treatment plan, or treatment starts, you will be asked to sign a form declaring that you agree to undertake the proposed course of treatment and that you will pay the appropriate charges. You may be asked to pay the full estimated cost before treatment starts, or to pay a proportion at each visit. If you are exempt from charges, you will be asked to show evidence of exemption.

Information on whether you are entitled to free NHS treatment, or help with the cost, can be found in leaflet HC11. This leaflet is available from:

• Dental practices
• Family doctors
• Pharmacies
• Ophthalmic practices
• NHS hospitals