Coronavirus: dental services update
Our services are open and safe to attend. If you've been invited for an appointment or procedure, it's important that you still come in.
The department is no longer running walk-in emergency services. If you have an urgent dental problem, you need to call NHS 111, who will triage and provide an appointment if appropriate. Please see the Acute Dental Centre page for more information.
Patients
Our dental services are open and back to normal service. Most patients will need to attend a face-to-face appointment. We will be offering some patients alternative methods of having an appointment, such as video consultations. We have put many measures in place to make sure the hospital is safe to attend if you do need to come in.
In many of our dental services, we will be able to book you a telephone appointment, so that you can speak to a member of the team about your condition. Please go to the individual service page in the list on this page for information on how to contact the team you need. You can contact us by telephone or email if:
- you need to urgently discuss your condition
- you do not have access to email or to our website.
The Acute Dental Centre (ADC) is still open for dental emergencies, Monday to Friday. In order to access this service please call NHS 111, where you will be triaged by a dental nurse and offered an appointment if appropriate, depending on availability. For more details, visit the ADC service page.
Patients should be aware that only a limited number of patients can be seen each day. If you have any other concerns, see our frequently asked questions further below, or the frequently asked questions on the webpage of the dental service you are being seen under.
If you've been invited to come in for a face-to-face appointment at our hospitals you will see a number of measures have been put in place to help people 'stay safe and keep apart'. Our service is safe to attend and we are here to help.
GPs
We are doing everything we can to support GPs and your patients during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. If you need advice from our clinical team, please use the current advice and guidance channels including e-RS advice and guidance for written communication, or Consultant Connect to speak to a senior clinician immediately.
e-RS referrals
We would encourage you to contact our clinical team through advice and guidance before making a referral. We are continuing to vet all new referrals.
We will be contacting urgent patients but we are not currently booking routine new patients and so there may be a significant delay before seeing your patient.
Please consider this before making any referral as our capacity to see new patients is very limited in the current climate.
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I have been referred to the service but have not heard anything
We have received your referral, but we are still working through a backlog of referrals received over the last year's lockdowns. You will stay on our waiting list and we will let you know as soon as we can offer you an appointment. We appreciate your patience.
If you are concerned about your new appointment, you can contact the new patient referral unit:
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I am worried I might have coronavirus (COVID-19)
Please call NHS 111 for advice.
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I have an appointment soon and have not heard from you
We are attempting to contact all patients in advance of your appointment. If you have not heard from us and your appointment is less than three days away, email us using the most appropriate address from the list on our website.
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My appointment was cancelled and I haven't received a follow-up appointment
If you haven't heard from us after your appointment has been cancelled and you haven't been discharged and a review appointment/new appointment has not been sent please contact:
Location
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Guy's Hospital
floors 17-28, Tower Wing
Great Maze Pond
London SE1 9RT
Tel: 020 7188 8006
Email: gst-tr.dentalqueries@nhs.net
Map to our dental services (PDF 107Kb).
The postgraduate centre is on the 22nd floor of Tower Wing. Postgraduate services operating on this floor are:
- endodontics
- orthodontics
- periodontology
- prosthodontics
- restorative.
Implants postgraduate services will be operating out of the dental postgraduate annexe on floor 21.
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St Thomas' Hospital
Children's dentistry and orthodontics
The Dental Centre
ground floor, South Wing
Westminster Bridge Road
London SE1 7EH
Tel: 020 7188 8006
Email: gst-tr.dentalqueries@nhs.net
Map to Dental Centre (PDF 47Kb).
Please note that due to recent refurbishment works, the children's dental department and some orthodontic services have relocated to St Thomas' Hospital.
Children's day cases remain on floor 23, Tower Wing, Guy's Hospital.
Together with King's College London, our dental services make up King's College London Dental Institute.
Adult dental services are based at Guy's.
The children's dentistry department is based at The Dental Centre, St Thomas' Hospital. We also treat inpatients at Evelina London Children's Hospital. For more information about our children's services, see the Evelina London website.
We also provide a wide range of general and specialist clinical NHS services.
New state of the art dental facilities
The new postgraduate centre occupying floors 21 and 22 of Guy’s Tower and the recently refurbished Dental Centre at St Thomas’ Hospital, provide the following specialised treatments: orthodontics, children's dentistry, prosthodontics, periodontics and implant dentistry.
Clinical facilities and services have been upgraded and expanded. As a result, referred patients accepted for treatment are being seen within minimal waiting times. Our increased capacity means that we are happy to receive additional referrals in all specialities, particularly in orthodontics and children's dentistry. Our acceptance criteria for these specialities can be found on the referrals page.
Education and training
We provide undergraduate and postgraduate training for dental students and to train dental care professionals, such as dental nurses, hygienists and hygiene therapists.
Ours is the largest dental school in Europe, and a world leader in dental research. We train 20% of all dentists qualifying in England.