Community Dental Service

Phone: 01803 217777 – Please leave a message on our answerphone and we will call you back as soon as we can. Please only leave one message. It can take a few hours to return your call due to the high volume of calls we receive.
Email: Community Dental Service

Opening hours

Monday to Friday, 8:45am to 12:30pm, and 1:15pm to 4:30pm

We are closed at weekends, bank holidays, and occasionally for staff training.

Services

Special care dentistry

We are a specialist service providing NHS dental treatment for people with complex needs. This includes people with a severe disability, or a complex medical, physical, or mental health condition. We do not accept self-referrals. You must be referred to us by a healthcare professional: Dental referral guidance and forms

Our waiting list can be up to one year. We assess all patients against our service criteria, and we may only offer you one course of treatment.

Depending on your needs, treatment can be provided under local anaesthetic, inhalation sedation, intravenous sedation or general anaesthetic. Specialist equipment, such as wheelchair recliners and bariatric chairs, is available at selected clinics.

All care is provided under NHS regulations. We do not provide private dental care. NHS charges apply if you are not exempt, and we will take your payment at your first appointment. You can find out more on the NHS website: Who can get free NHS dental treatment or help with dental costs

If you need to cancel an appointment, please give us at least 24 hours notice by phone or email.

If you do not attend your appointment or cancel at short notice more than once, we will close your course of treatment. We will remove you from our recall system and discharge you from our service. You will need a new referral for any future appointments, and you will have to pay another patient charge unless you are exempt.

Our dental teams have a duty of care to safeguard patients. We are trained to identify signs of abuse or neglect in children and vulnerable adults, and we will take appropriate action to protect them.

Urgent dental care

Urgent dental care Monday to Friday

• severe dental or facial pain
• a dental or soft tissue infection
• visible swelling or unexplained bleeding

Please call 01803 217777 at 8:45am, Monday to Friday. Leave a voicemail with your name and phone number and a member of our team will call you back. Appointments are held at local dental practices. You can also find information on managing toothache on the main NHS website.

Urgent dental care at weekends and bank holidays

If you have a dental emergency outside of our normal opening hours, please call NHS 111.

Stabilisation dental care

This NHS service helps people who do not have a regular dentist. It aims to stabilise your oral health over one course of treatment. Please call 01803 217777, Monday to Friday. Leave a voicemail with your name and phone number and we will call you back. Appointments are held at local dental practices.

Finding a dentist

To find a regular dentist, search ‘NHS find a dentist’ online or contact your local dental practices directly.

Oral health promotion

Our work follows national guidelines: ‘Delivering better oral health: an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’.

For advice on fluoride and brushing your teeth, visit the NHS website: How to keep your teeth clean.

We support clinical training programmes. We may ask if you are happy to be treated by a trainee supervised by an experienced professional.

We also manage public health initiatives, such as dental health surveys, identifying local health inequalities, and running oral health promotion activities.

Community dental team

How to share a comment or complaint

Phone: 0300 1231672
Email: d-icb.patientexperience@nhs.net
Website: One Devon – Patient advice and complaints