With NHS dentists you are taken off the patient list if you do not give 24 hr notice of a cancellation. What happens if a dentist cancels the appointment? Happened to me twice in three years and happened to my sons quite recently. It is bad enough having to book time off work just so you can attend! Latest appointment is 5.15 pm. One of the receptionists is rude/abrasive and blasé at her best. Not interested that time was taken off work, or that he was having trouble with a tooth. As a direct result of the dentist cancelling last minute my son had to have an emergency extraction yesterday.

I'm surprised to be the first reviewer to give less than five stars, but in my experience of two appointments here and NHS dentists all round the country I think the score is justified. Firstly, the appointment system is clumsy - patients are not able to book in for annual/six monthly check ups in advance, but receive a pre-allocated random appointment slot in the post a short time prior to the appointment, which is invariably not convenient and requires calling the practice to change it (which itself is difficult to get through to). This is to then find the next mutually achievable time is not for weeks - why not allow patients to book months/a year in advance? On neither of my check ups has a scale/polish been offered or completed, despite being included in the NHS band 1 fee structure. Indeed in my last appointment, the dentist was quite dismissive of the NHS banding system as a whole, saying despite what the bands say they include it is the dentist who decides, and this was quite clearly indicated (to me) not in terms of clinical discretion but financial. This feeling was reinforced by my Band 1 checkup taking all of 3 minutes of the dentists time, at £22.70 this seems unfair. The staff were friendly and helpful and answered my (single) query.
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