NHS urgent dental service
NHS Emergency Dental Care Across Manchester
Urgent NHS dental appointments across Central, South and East Manchester.
Appointments only — no walk-ins
All appointments must be arranged by telephone. Please do not contact or attend the dental practices that host our clinics.
When clinics are open
Opening hours
Monday – Friday
9:00am – 9:00pm
Saturday – Sunday
9:00am – 5:00pm
Emergency dental appointments are also provided on public holidays.
How to get help
Get an urgent dental appointment
SMDEC is an appointment-only service. Walk-in patients cannot be accepted.
2
Be assessed
A call handler will assess your needs and, where appropriate, arrange an urgent dental appointment.
3
Attend
You will be given the location and time of your appointment. Please attend only the location you are given.
The urgent dental call handling service is managed by the Greater Manchester Urgent Primary Care Alliance (GMUPCA).
At your appointment
Focused on the immediate problem
SMDEC urgent appointments are normally 20 minutes long.
Appointments are focused on assessing your immediate dental problem, relieving pain and providing clinically appropriate urgent treatment. Further or definitive dental care may be required afterwards.
Current charge from 1 April 2026
NHS urgent dental treatment: £27.90
The current NHS patient charge for urgent dental treatment in England is £27.90, unless you are entitled to free NHS dental treatment or help with NHS dental costs. NHS dental charges can change.
Urgent treatment
What can be treated at an urgent dental appointment?
Treatment is based on a clinical assessment and what is appropriate within an urgent care appointment. It can include:
- Examination, assessment and advice
- Clinically necessary dental X-rays
- Temporary fillings or dressings
- Emergency partial root canal treatment, such as pulpectomy or vital pulpotomy
- Treatment following certain dental injuries
- Management of a knocked-out tooth
- Refixing an inlay, crown or bridge where appropriate
- Extraction of up to two teeth where clinically appropriate
- Treatment and aftercare for dental infections
- Drainage of a dental abscess
- Urgent adjustment of dentures
- Urgent adjustment of orthodontic appliances such as braces
- Management of certain acute oral conditions such as ulcers or herpetic lesions
- Treatment of severe dentine or cementum sensitivity
- One urgent filling where clinically appropriate
No particular treatment can be promised before you have been assessed. Clinical circumstances, complexity, available time and patient safety determine what treatment can be provided.
Follow-up treatment
What happens after my emergency appointment?
SMDEC is an urgent dental service and does not replace ongoing care from a general dental practice. We do not register patients for continuing NHS dental care.
You may need to find or return to a general dentist for definitive or follow-up treatment, such as a definitive filling, crown, definitive root canal treatment, replacement denture or ongoing dental care.
Some conditions cannot safely or appropriately be treated within an urgent dental appointment. For example, a complex dental extraction may require referral to an advanced NHS dental service.
- Severe tooth or mouth pain affecting sleep or normal daily activities
- Persistent dental pain that is not resolving
- Dental swelling
- A knocked-out adult tooth
- Injury to the teeth or mouth
- Significant pain or bleeding following a dental extraction
- Broken or loose fillings, crowns, bridges or dentures causing an urgent problem
- A mouth ulcer, lump, red patch or white patch that is persistent, worsening or concerning
Medical emergency
Call 999 or go to A&E for a medical emergency
- Serious injury to the face or jaw
- Heavy bleeding from the mouth that will not stop
- Severe swelling of the mouth, lips, throat or neck with difficulty breathing, or swelling that is making it difficult to open one or both eyes
- A head or facial injury associated with loss of consciousness, vomiting or double vision
If you are unsure whether you need A&E, contact NHS 111 for advice.
Five clinic locations
Our locations
These are host premises. Do not contact or attend them without a pre-booked SMDEC appointment. All appointment enquiries must go through 111 or 0333 332 3800.
SMDEC Stockport
161 Wellington Road South
Stockport
SK1 3UA
SMDEC Stretford
554–556 Barton Road
Stretford
Manchester
M32 9TD
SMDEC Timperley
53C Mainwood Road
Timperley
Altrincham
WA15 7JW
SMDEC Ardwick
1st Floor
The Vallance Centre
Dental Department
Wadeson Road
Manchester
M13 9UJ
SMDEC Ashton
Ashton Primary Care Centre
Purple Zone
193 Old Street
Ashton-under-Lyne
OL6 7SR
Map of SMDEC locations
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Post-operative treatment
What to do after an emergency appointment
Follow the instructions given by the dental professional who treated you. Choose the treatment you received for general aftercare advice.
What to do after a tooth extraction
How to protect the blood clot, manage discomfort and know when to get help after a tooth has been removed.
What to do after a temporary filling
How to look after a temporary filling and what to do if it becomes painful, breaks or comes out.
What to do after a pulp dressing or first-stage root canal treatment
How to care for the treated tooth and arrange the further treatment it still needs.
Who we are
About SMDEC
South Manchester Dental Emergency Cooperative (SMDEC) is a cooperative of independent dental practices commissioned to provide NHS urgent and emergency dental appointments for patients across Central, South and East Manchester.
Our service operates from five locations across Greater Manchester. SMDEC uses clinical space within these premises, but the emergency dental service is independent from the host dental practices and health centres.
Please do not telephone or attend a host practice to ask for an SMDEC appointment. The host practice is not responsible for booking or providing the SMDEC emergency service.
Treatment is provided by a bank of appropriately qualified dental professionals working within the SMDEC urgent dental service.
Need urgent dental help?