Getting a dentist to look at your tooth today, right here in Solihull, is a lot easier than the last half hour on your phone has made it feel. You don’t need to be registered anywhere, there are dentists in the middle of town who set out to see emergencies the same day in practice hours, and the visit then costs exactly what the NHS charges for urgent care.
Can I see an emergency dentist in Solihull today?
Yes, and the quickest way in is the oldest one: pick up the phone. Those dentists in the middle of town are us, Designer Smiles, and we set out to see anyone with a dental emergency the same day in practice hours (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm). The visit is £27.90, the same figure as the NHS urgent charge, and it covers the examination and getting you out of pain.
Now, there’s one small trick to getting the soonest slot, and it’s simply this: ring early. The earlier in the day you call 0121 709 3821, the sooner the slot, because a call first thing leaves the whole day to find you a gap, and a call late in the afternoon leaves very little of it. If talking with a sore jaw is the last thing you fancy, you can book online or send us a message on WhatsApp instead.
When you get through, tell reception two things: what has happened, and how much it hurts. That’s all. Nobody will ask you to justify it. You see, the whole point of an emergency appointment is that you don’t have to earn it. The same goes for children, who are seen the same day in practice hours too.
Do I need to be registered to see an emergency dentist?
No, and this is the part that surprises almost everyone. For an emergency there’s no list you have to be on first, and no catchment area drawn around your house. nhs.uk says it plainly: “You can contact any NHS dentist and ask for an appointment if you have symptoms or need a routine check-up.”
It works the same way with us. You don’t need to be a patient here already to be seen in an emergency; you ring, and you come in. If you’d like to stay with us once you’re out of pain, the new-patient examination is £27.90, the NHS Band 1 figure. The whole picture of how NHS urgent dental care works in England, including who gets it free, has a page of its own.
How do I get an NHS emergency dentist in Solihull?
Through NHS 111. You call 111 or use 111 online, describe what’s going on, and they look for an urgent NHS dental slot for you, where one exists.
Solihull has its own chapter in this story. nhs.uk says your local integrated care board, or ICB, “manages dental services in your area”, and ours is the Birmingham and Solihull ICB. On 16 September 2025 it published a notice headed “Extra urgent dental appointments now available”, and it said: “Thousands of extra urgent dental appointments are now available for people living in Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull who need urgent dental care.” The share for our patch was “more than 9,000 in Birmingham and Solihull”, and the way in was 111 again: “People who need an urgent dental appointment should visit NHS 111 online or call 111.”
Two more lines in that notice are worth keeping in your pocket. An NHS spokesperson for the Midlands said the slots were “specifically for urgent dental problems, and you don’t need to be registered with an NHS dentist.” And this one saves you a wasted phone call: “Do not contact your GP practice, as they will not be able to offer emergency or out-of-hours dental care.” The notice is from 2025, so its numbers are what was added then; the door it points to, 111, is the same door nhs.uk points to today.
How soon will you be seen? nhs.uk again: “You should be offered urgent dental treatment within 24 hours or 7 days, depending on your symptoms.” Which one you’re offered depends on what you describe, so describe all of it. The honest catch is that a slot has to be free somewhere, and nhs.uk says so openly: “You may find it difficult to find a local dentist that’s offering NHS appointments.”
The NHS urgent charge is £27.90, unless you’re exempt. If you’re entitled to free NHS treatment, the NHS route will cost you less, and we’d much rather you heard that from us. If you’re paying either way, the visit costs the same through both doors in practice hours, so the real question is how soon you’d like to be seen.
Is there a 24-hour emergency dentist open now in Solihull?
Well, this is the question everybody types at two in the morning, so here’s the number to know: NHS 111 answers round the clock. The Birmingham and Solihull ICB’s own guide to choosing the right service says “NHS 111 will get you assessed and directed to the right place 24/7, 365 days a year,” and it lists “If you require an emergency dental appointment” among the reasons to use it. For a tooth, nhs.uk says 111 online “can help with dental problems”, and that this “might mean finding a dentist, or an emergency dentist if there is availability in your area.”
So in the small hours, 111 is your number. Outside our hours it can direct you to an NHS urgent dental service, and our own out-of-hours emergency appointment is £150. Evenings and weekends have a guide of their own: the out-of-hours dentist in Solihull, and what it costs. And if your tooth can hold on until we open, ring as soon as we do, while the whole day is still ahead to fit you in.
What counts as a dental emergency?
Far more than most people give themselves permission to ring about. Toothache that keeps you awake or stops you eating counts. So does pain from a wisdom tooth, a broken, chipped or knocked-out tooth, a lost filling or a crown that has come off, a swelling in the gum or the face, bleeding that will not settle after a tooth has been taken out, and a broken denture you cannot do without. Our own rule fits on a sticky note: if it hurts or it has broken, ring.
Lots of people sit on a sore tooth for a week, waiting to see whether it gets bad enough, as if there were a bouncer on the door at reception. There isn’t one. And there’s a good reason to come sooner: a tooth seen early is usually a smaller job. Think of a stone chip in a car windscreen. Filled in the week it happens, it’s a quick little repair; left until winter, it runs into a crack across the glass, and now it’s a new windscreen. A small problem in a tooth has the same room to grow.
The rare time to go to A&E or call 999 instead is a swelling of the face that is closing an eye or making it hard to breathe or swallow, bleeding that will not stop after twenty minutes of firm pressure on a clean, folded cloth, or a blow to the face where the jaw may be broken or where you were knocked out. What A&E can and can’t do for toothache has its own page, so you never sit in the wrong waiting room.
What happens at a same-day emergency appointment?
Relief first, everything else after. Picture a good plumber called out to a burst pipe: before anything else, they turn the water off, and only once the kitchen has stopped flooding do they talk to you about new pipes. An emergency dental visit runs in exactly that order.
The dentist examines the tooth and the area around it, with an x-ray of the tooth if it’s needed, so the cause is known before anything is done. Then the tooth is numbed and the pain is dealt with at its source. An abscess is drained. A lost filling is replaced or dressed. A crown that has come off is cleaned and put back, or a temporary is fitted. A nerve that’s causing the pain is dressed or removed, which is the first stage of a root canal and costs £76.60. Think of the nerve as the tooth’s alarm wire: once it’s settled, the alarm goes quiet. And a tooth that can’t be saved is taken out, once you’ve been told why.
The emergency fee is for the visit: the examination and getting you comfortable. Whatever the tooth then needs is priced from the fee guide and told to you before it’s done, so nothing turns up on the bill that you didn’t agree to. Payment is on the day.
What you won’t get is a sales pitch while you’re in pain. You’re given the plan to take away instead: what the tooth needs to last, whether that’s a root canal, a filling, a crown or an extraction, with the price of each in writing, for you to decide on once the pain has gone. The repair is booked for another day, usually within the fortnight, and there’s 0% finance through Tabeo if it’s a large one. Every step, with its price, is on our emergency page, and what an emergency dentist costs in Solihull has a guide of its own.
Who will you see? Whichever of our dentists is free first. Every one of them does the whole of general dentistry, so the person who got you out of pain is the person who plans the repair, and you don’t have to tell your story twice.
Where is Designer Smiles in Solihull?
We’re at 4 Manor Square, Solihull B91 3PX, in the middle of the town and just off the High Street. There’s free parking for patients, which matters more than it sounds when your face is throbbing and the last thing you want is to circle the block.
So here’s the whole map in one breath. In practice hours, ring us early on 0121 709 3821 and we set out to see you the same day, registered or not, for the same figure as the NHS urgent charge. For NHS urgent care, go through 111, at any hour of the day or night. And if you come to us, you’ll be out of pain before anyone talks to you about anything else.
