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 in Monmouth, specify Monmouthshire in Wales and any existing dentist, including one across the border. Follow the relevant practice or Aneurin Bevan dental instructions and confirm the venue before travelling. A general search result or routine portal entry is not a booking. Ask after the urgent visit what further treatment is required, who will organise it and how the next clinician will receive the findings if continuing care crosses the border.
Monmouthshire uses Aneurin Bevan’s dental access instructions. Contact your existing dentist first; if you do not regularly attend a practice, follow the Dental Helpline guidance. The board differentiates advice and appointment provision at different times. Routine Welsh NHS interest uses the separate Dental Access Portal, and an urgent appointment does not establish routine registration.
If your usual dentist is in England, explain that before a local assessment so records can be exchanged appropriately. For a planned course, establish where treatment and reviews will happen and which care arrangement and charges apply. When additional needs make general practice attendance difficult, ask the relevant professional about a community referral instead of assuming a nearby hospital is open access.
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