01227 771 323
During weekdays, our Whitstable dentists operate an in-house emergency service for all our registered patients. Please contact the receptionist by telephone (preferably first thing in the morning). We endeavour to see patients who are in severe pain on the same day.
During evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays, we operate an in-house emergency service for all our registered Private and Denplan patients. Please telephone the practice, listen to the message on the answer machine and follow the instructions. One of the on-call Kelvin House dentists will then contact you and discuss your emergency problem. If necessary, we will open up the practice to see and treat you. The private fee for opening the surgery for registered patients is from £120, plus the fee for the emergency treatment.
For Denplan patients, there is a £20 fee for opening the surgery and the fee for the emergency treatment is covered by your Denplan Care.
The changes to the NHS contract which took place in April 2006 mean that the Primary Care Trust has taken over responsibility for ALL ‘out of hours’ NHS emergency treatment. This is organised through DentaLine, which is based at Canterbury, Maidstone and Medway.
DentaLine can treat patients who:
Normal DentaLine opening hours are: 7pm to 10.30pm every day plus weekends and bank holiday mornings 9.30am to 11am.
Patients should telephone the centres before attending and will be assessed during their call to determine how urgently treatment is needed.
For emergency advice or help in accessing the DentaLine service, call: 01634 890300
Pain from a tooth, which is made worse with sugar, normally indicates that there is dental decay present. Keep the area free from plaque by good brushing/flossing, avoid sugary food/drinks and contact your dentist.
Pain from a tooth, which is very brief and made worse on biting, may indicate a broken filling or cracked/fractured tooth. Keep the area free from plaque by good brushing/flossing, avoid biting on the tooth and contact your dentist.
A throbbing pain, lasting hours and affecting your sleep, normally indicates that there is an infection in either the tooth or the gum. If there is a swelling from the gum, use hot salt water mouth rinses. Contact your dentist for further advice.
Pain, and possibly swelling from the gum around a wisdom tooth normally indicates a localised gum infection. Keep the area clean with an Interspace brush or your electric toothbrush and an antibacterial gel/rinse. Use hourly hot salt water mouth rinses and take appropriate analgesics (pain killers). Contact your dentist for further advice.
Trauma to a front tooth may cause the tooth to fracture, become loose or become displaced. Contact your dentist immediately and keep any large fragments.
A knocked-out tooth may be able to be reimplanted back in the jaw if you act quickly. Save the knocked-out tooth but avoid touching the root surface. Store it in a glass of milk or place the tooth in the mouth between the cheek and gum; contact your dentist immediately. For more information on how to save a knocked-out tooth, follow this link.
