Emergencies

Opening Hours: The practice is open Monday – Friday from 8.15am – 5.00pm.

During the week patients in pain or in an emergency situation should call the surgery preferably before 9.00am, every effort will be made to schedule an appointment as soon as possible with your dentist that day. If your dentist is away, an appointment will be made with another dentist in the practice who will be happy to deal with your emergency.

At weekends if our patients require urgent advice out of hours they simply call the main practice number 01273 472 248 to obtain the emergency telephone number for the dentist on call. There is no fee for advice given over the phone however, if the dentist is called out to the practice there will be a call out fee to pay.

Alternatively, there is an out of hours NHS emergency dental service for which there is no call out fee. Calls should be made as early as possible at 9.00am to ensure an appointment.

Contact: Lewes Victoria Hospital on 01273 486 444 or Hailsham on 01323 449 170.

What do I do if I knock a tooth out?

• Firstly, if you can find the tooth and it is clean – put it back into the socket yourself.
• Do put it straight into a cup of milk or keep it in your mouth
• Do go to a dentist or hospital as soon as possible
• Do take painkillers if necessary
• Don’t hold the tooth by the root, as teeth are surrounded by fragile ligaments which need to be kept intact if the tooth is to be replaced
• Don’t clean the tooth with disinfectant or water or let it dry out
• Don’t put aspirin or clove oil on the wound
• Don’t panic.

The sooner the tooth is replaced, the better the chance of success. If you have not managed to do it yourself, the dentist will put the tooth back. They may use a dental splint to fasten the tooth against the teeth on either side. In most cases this is successful, and once the splint is removed the tooth is stable. However, you will almost certainly need more treatment in the future.