Thousands more emergency dental appointments to be made available in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes

Thousands of patients in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes will soon enjoy greater access to urgent and emergency dental care, following a Government announcement.

Over 6,000 extra appointments will be available locally from April 2025, as part of a total of 700,000 to be provided across England.  Each area has a target of urgent appointments to roll out, based on estimated local levels of unmet need for unscheduled and emergency NHS dental care.

Nicky Poulain, chief primary care officer at Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, said:

“Dentists are working hard to help as many patients as possible but we know that too many people find it difficult to access NHS dental services.

“These extra appointments will be for patients who are likely to be in pain – including those suffering from infections or requiring urgent treatment.  We are already starting work on securing these extra appointments, so that they can be available for patients from April.

“Patients will be able to access these appointments by contacting their usual dental practice or calling NHS 111 if they do not have a regular dentist or need help out of hours.”

The local area has also recruited seven new dentists through the NHS’s Dental Recruitment Incentive Scheme, which encourages dentists to carry out NHS work in areas of the country which have experienced a shortage of appointments.  Three full-time and two part-time dentists are already in post in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, with two more awaiting start dates.