Local treatment planning
Understand the treatment and the local access route before requesting care. The treating practice assesses suitability and confirms any appointment, fees and follow-up.
Urgent dental safety
Seek urgent dental assessment for severe or persistent pain, increasing swelling, a knocked-out adult tooth or bleeding after an extraction. Call 999 or go to A&E for serious facial injury, heavy bleeding that will not stop, or severe mouth or neck swelling affecting breathing or swallowing. Do not wait for an Odenta response.
For urgent dental problems, contact your usual practice or follow your local health board's dental helpline instructions. The correct route can vary by health-board area. The routine Dental Access Portal is not an emergency service: do not wait for an allocation if pain, swelling or injury needs attention.
Local patient planning
For urgent dental help from Bargoed, give the town as well as the county-borough name. Use your usual dentist or the Aneurin Bevan Dental Helpline instructions and check whether you have received advice or a confirmed appointment. Do not travel on the basis of a broad Caerphilly search result. After assessment, ask what further care is required and who should organise it if the immediate visit is separate from your ongoing dental arrangements.
If you have a dentist, contact that practice about an urgent problem. Aneurin Bevan publishes a Dental Helpline route for people who do not regularly attend, with different advice and booking arrangements during weekdays, evenings and weekends. Community dental support for additional needs is a distinct service; applications for routine NHS places use the Dental Access Portal.
Ask whether an offer is actually in Bargoed, Caerphilly town or another part of the board area. If several visits are proposed, discuss the journey and support you can reliably arrange for each one. If a community service is considered, explain why ordinary practice attendance is difficult so the receiving team can assess the appropriate setting rather than simply the nearest building.
If you do not have an NHS dentist, the Welsh Dental Access Portal lets eligible people register interest in routine NHS care. Health boards allocate places when they become available. Check the official eligibility and application guidance, including applications for children or someone you care for. Keep using your usual practice if you already have one.
Understand dental access in WalesLocal access sources checked . These independent public services are separate from DAN participation. Follow their current instructions.
A dental professional assesses the problem, your symptoms and relevant medical history.
Prompt assessment can identify whether pain, swelling, trauma or a broken restoration needs urgent treatment.
An online request is not a diagnosis and does not guarantee a same-day appointment.
Ask whether the quoted fee covers assessment only or includes X-rays and immediate treatment.
This is general information. Your clinician assesses the problem, explains alternatives and agrees your individual plan.
Read the complete emergency dentist guide
For dental practices
Apply through DAN, complete onboarding and control your public profile, services and patient requests. Your practice decides whether it can offer an appointment.
Apply to join DAN