Appointments

Dental treatment by undergraduate students

Your appointment

All appointments are face-to-face.

Your time and availability

Undergraduate students work more slowly than qualified dentists, and supervisors must check their work.

Each treatment appointment is likely to take 3 to 4 hours. You may need several appointments.

They may also have to carry out their studies away from the clinic, sometimes for several weeks at a time. This means your course of treatment will take longer than in a normal dental practice, both in terms of the length of each appointment and the total number of appointments required.

It is very important that you have plenty of time to attend your appointment. You also need to be flexible about the days and times when you can come.

How to get an appointment

You can self-refer for dental treatment by undergraduate students.

To find out if your treatment can be done with our dental students, you need to book an appointment at an assessment clinic.

You can do this by filling in the referral form and sending it back to the address.

Your appointment must be during term times:

  • Monday to Thursday, beginning at 9.30am or 1.30pm
  • Friday, beginning at 9.30am or 2pm

If accepted, you'll be allocated a student and be treated in one of our departments. Your treatment may need to be completed by more than 1 student if required.

Changing your appointment

Phone

Please contact the reception team for the floor your appointment is on.

21st floor reception: 020 7188 1869

25th floor reception: 020 7188 1585

26th floor reception: 020 7188 6066

Email: [email protected]

You can change or cancel your appointment up to 24 hours before your appointment date. Please give as much notice as possible so that we can to offer cancelled appointments to other patients.

If you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice, we'll record that you did not attend and you'll be discharged from our care.

Before your appointment

Please bring with you:

  • details of your recent medical history
  • any medicines you're taking

During your appointment

Triage appointment

Please arrive no more than 30 minutes before your appointment time. If you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment we may not be able to see you.

To help us see you more quickly, you may have a triage appointment first. This is a quick assessment by experienced dentists in an open clinic to see if you're suitable for treatment with our undergraduate students.

If you are, we'll book a care planning appointment for you to confirm suitability, take x-rays if necessary, and discuss a treatment plan.

Care planning appointment

Please arrive no more than 30 minutes before your appointment time. If you are more than 20 minutes late for your appointment we may not be able to see you.

You'll be assessed by a dental student under the supervision of an experienced dentist in an open clinic. Your appointment could last around 2 to 3 hours and will involve an assessment of your teeth.  We may take dental X-rays.

We'll discuss the results of this assessment with you and let you know if you are suitable for treatment with the dental students.

Please be aware at either appointment we may inform you our undergraduates can not treat you.

After your appointment

If you are suitable for treatment with the dental students, we'll give you a written treatment plan which we'll discuss with you. If you decide to go ahead with treatment, we'll place you on a waiting list.

If you're not suitable for dental treatment with the students, we'll speak to you about your dental needs and give advice on next steps. We cannot provide a written report of your dental treatment needs.

Contact us

For more information, please contact us.

Do you have any comments or concerns about your care?

Contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)

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