About us
Bristol Dental Hospital is a Centre of Excellence providing
routine and specialist clinical dental services for the South
West.
From September 2023, undergraduate teaching of dental
students is moving from the Bristol Dental Hospital to a new site
in Trinity Quay.
Emergency and urgent dental care services
For emergency dental care, patients must phone 111. This service
is provided to any patient, whether NHS or private, who requires
out of hours dental treatment outside of their normal dentist's
opening hours, or is just visiting the area. Triage will determine
the patient's need and an appointment will be given if appropriate.
Referral is not needed by a dentist.
The cost of treatment for all services and clinics is the same
as at any other NHS dental practice, unless individuals are exempt
from charges, for which proof is normally required.
Urgent dental care
Please note: from Friday 21 July 2023,
urgent dental care will move from Bristol Dental Hospital, but
remains widely available in the city of Bristol. From this date,
patients will need to access urgent dental care in Bristol by
contacting NHS 111. This will make sure that patients are directed
to the right place for the care they need.
We do not provide a walk in service. Please do not queue
outside the hospital.
Emergency dental service for children (aged 0 to 16 years)
The Department of Child Dental Health is a Specialist Unit and
only provides emergency care for children with;
- complex dental trauma
- facial swelling associated with dental infection
- uncontrolled bleeding following dental extractions or dental
trauma
This service is provided between the hours of 9am and 4.30pm,
Monday to Friday. Emergencies of this nature outside of these hours
should attend the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children's A&E
department.
All children attending as an emergency will be triaged, and if
not meeting the acceptance criteria above, will be asked to return
to their own dentist or directed to phone 111 for out of hour's
services.
For any other dental problems, children who are registered with
their own dentist should contact their dentist in the first
instance.
If outside of their normal dentists opening hours, they should
phone 111 for information regarding out of hour's dental services
in their area.
If the child is not registered with a dentist, the carer should
phone 111 for advice regarding dentists who are accepting NHS
patients for registration, and for information regarding out of
hour's dental services, and access to the Primary Care Dental
Service.
Transition of undergraduate dental students
From September 2023, undergraduate teaching of dental students
is moving from the Bristol Dental Hospital to a new site in Trinity
Quay.
Existing specialist dental services delivered by the NHS will
continue to be available at the Bristol Dental Hospital, but urgent
dental care and dental clinics delivered by undergraduate dental
students will move to the new site.
This change presents exciting possibilities for the future of
dental care at Bristol Dental Hospital, part of University
Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust (UHBW), which
will continue to deliver emergency dental care and specialist
services (through professional referrals from the emergency
department) for patients across Bristol and the South West,
alongside undergraduate placements and postgraduate training for
dental students.
The university's relocation of this service and its students
further improves the training for undergraduate dental students by
offering a larger teaching space with cutting-edge teaching
facilities, remaining in an accessible city centre location.
Patients will still be able to access the same services and
high-quality care as before across both the dental hospital and the
dental school, and NHS 111 will always direct patients to the right
place for the care they need.
