It is Saturday night in Solihull, the tooth that grumbled all week has chosen tonight to throb properly, and the whole dental world seems to have gone home for the weekend. Here is the kind news: there are more doors than it feels like right now, every one of them has a price you can know before you go through it, and if the tooth will let you wait, the very same visit costs less on a weekday morning.
Can you see a dentist out of hours in Solihull?
You can, and there are two quite different routes, each suited to a different kind of night.
The first is a practice that sees emergencies outside its working day, and Designer Smiles is one. Our practice hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Outside them there is an out-of-hours emergency appointment at £150, which the fee guide lists as “Emergency consultation out of hours, including stabilisation”. Stabilisation just means the tooth is made safe and settled until the proper repair. The ways to reach the practice are 0121 709 3821, online booking, and WhatsApp.
The second is the NHS, and outside surgery hours its front door is NHS 111. In nhs.uk’s own words: “If you need emergency or urgent dental care you can get advice from NHS 111 or contact a dentist and ask for an appointment.”
Now, if you already have a regular dentist somewhere, ring them first. nhs.uk’s toothache page says to “call your dentist”, and that “if they’re closed, their answerphone may tell you what to do”. So listen to the message all the way through.
Inside practice hours, the same emergency visit here is £27.90, and we set out to see anyone with a dental emergency the same day, whether or not you have been here before. How to be seen the same day in Solihull has its own guide.
Why does an out of hours dentist cost more?
At Designer Smiles it does: £150 outside practice hours, against £27.90 inside them. The reason is the one you would guess. It is a dentist seeing you outside the working day.
Ring a plumber about a burst pipe on a Sunday and the call-out costs more than the same job on a Tuesday, and nobody thinks the plumber is being cheeky, because on Sunday you are paying for someone to work while everybody else is off. A tooth out of hours is the same trade.
The emergency fee is for the visit itself: the examination, and getting you comfortable. Whatever the tooth then needs, a filling, a root canal or an extraction, is priced from the fee guide and told to you before it is done, so nothing turns up on the bill that you did not agree to. The proper repair is usually a second visit, planned and priced once the pain has gone. The practice books it for another day, usually within the fortnight. What each part of an emergency costs in Solihull is set out treatment by treatment. And how the emergency appointment runs, from the first call to the repair, is on our emergency page.
One more thing, for next time. Each of the practice’s three membership plans includes the out-of-hours emergency consultation and 10% off treatment, with the exclusions set out in the scheme handbook. The plans spread the year’s check-ups and hygiene visits into a monthly payment: Silver is £10.62 a month for one examination and one hygiene visit a year, Gold £18.75 for two of each, and Platinum £30.41 for two examinations and four hygiene visits. The full fee guide has all three, with the administration fee.
Should I pay for tonight, or wait for Monday morning?
Here is the part that surprises people. On a weekday morning the very same emergency visit at Designer Smiles is £27.90, the same figure as the NHS urgent charge. So the out-of-hours appointment is there for the tooth that will not let you wait, and the weekday is there for the tooth that will.
Here are the doors side by side:
| What it costs | Best for | |
|---|---|---|
| Designer Smiles, out of hours | £150, or included if you are a plan member | Pain that will not wait, seen privately |
| NHS 111, by phone or online | The NHS urgent charge, £27.90, unless you are exempt | NHS urgent care, and anyone exempt from NHS charges |
| Designer Smiles, in practice hours | £27.90, seen the same day | A tooth that painkillers are holding until the weekday |
So how do you know which tooth you have? Well, nhs.uk draws the line for us. It says to ask for an urgent or emergency dental appointment, or get advice from NHS 111 now, if “you have severe tooth or mouth pain that’s affecting your sleep or daily activities, and is not helped by painkillers like paracetamol or ibuprofen”. If that is your night, the out-of-hours appointment and 111 are there for exactly this, and nobody at Designer Smiles will ask you to justify it.
If painkillers are keeping it quiet, look at how the NHS itself thinks about time. nhs.uk says “You should be offered urgent dental treatment within 24 hours or 7 days, depending on your symptoms”, so even the urgent route expects some problems to be seen in days rather than hours. When the weekday comes, ring as early as you can, because the earlier in the day you ring, the sooner the slot.
The exception, where the clock really runs, is a knocked-out adult tooth: nhs.uk says you “should be offered emergency dental care within 1 hour, or as soon as possible”, so that one never waits for Monday.
And for the rare night that needs a hospital rather than a dentist, go to A&E or call 999 for a swelling of the face that is closing an eye or making it hard to breathe or swallow, for bleeding that will not stop after twenty minutes of firm pressure on a clean, folded cloth, or for a blow to the face where the jaw may be broken, or where you were knocked out.
Toothache at the weekend: what helps until you are seen?
A pharmacist is the best friend you have on a Saturday. nhs.uk says that if you are in pain while you wait for a dental appointment, “you can ask a pharmacist for advice on taking painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen”, and that a pharmacist can also give advice on “toothache”, on “bleeding, swollen or painful gums”, and on “a lost filling or crown” until you are seen. You do not need an appointment to ask.
The toothache page on nhs.uk adds the gentle, sensible part: “eat soft foods, like yoghurt or scrambled eggs, and try to avoid chewing with the sore tooth”, “use a pain-relieving gel for your mouth”, and “do not eat foods that are sweet, very hot or very cold”. Picture a sunburnt shoulder. Everything it would normally shrug off becomes something it shouts about, and a sore tooth is the same with a hot cup of tea, an ice cube or a sticky toffee, so for a couple of days you stop handing it things to shout about.
You see, painkillers are a bucket under a leak. A bucket is a perfectly sensible way to get through to Monday, and it does nothing at all for the roof, which is why nhs.uk sends toothache to a dentist, who “can treat the cause of the pain and stop any problems getting worse”.
If it is the nights that are hard, we have a whole piece on getting through toothache at night.
And some things are happy to wait for a weekday. A small chip with no pain and no sharp edge is one. If a crown has come off, keep it safe in a little pot rather than a pocket and bring it with you, because a crown that comes off can usually be put back.
Is there an NHS emergency dentist at the weekend?
There is an NHS route, and at the weekend it begins with 111. Think of it as a satnav for NHS care: you tell it where you are and what is going on with the tooth, and it works out where you ought to go. nhs.uk says 111 online “can help with dental problems. This might mean finding a dentist, or an emergency dentist if there is availability in your area.” You can use the website, the NHS App or the phone; for a child under five, nhs.uk says to call.
The end of that sentence is the honest part. A slot has to be free somewhere, and how soon you are offered one depends on what you describe. So tell 111 everything, the pain, any swelling, how long it has been going on, and let it do the finding.
The NHS urgent charge is £27.90, and nhs.uk lists that one urgent charge with no separate figure for evenings or weekends, which is a lovely thing to know at nine o’clock on a Saturday. It is just as open that “You may need further dental treatment after your urgent appointment, which may have additional costs”, and that “Some people can get free NHS dental treatment, or help with part of the cost of treatment.” Our guide to the NHS emergency dentist covers who pays nothing and how the urgent route works.
Is it any different on a bank holiday?
It always feels as though teeth save their worst for a long weekend, so here is exactly what nhs.uk says. Bank holidays come up once on its page about 111, in a line about the nurse callbacks 111 sometimes offers: “The callback service is usually busier at weekends and on bank holidays.” Its page on how 111 online works adds that “111 online users or people who have called 111 go into the same callback queue and the waiting times are the same.”
That means there is no secret quicker line on a bank holiday. Pick whichever way of asking suits you, give 111 the whole story, and keep the pharmacist’s advice close while you wait.
So there is the whole map. Outside practice hours, our out-of-hours emergency appointment is £150, or part of your plan if you are a member. NHS 111 looks for an NHS urgent dental slot, at £27.90 unless you are exempt. A pharmacist’s advice can help you through tonight. And if the tooth will let you wait, a weekday morning brings the same visit for £27.90: ring 0121 709 3821 as early as you can.
