Emergency Dental Service

East Sussex Emergency NHS Dental Service is for emergency dental advice and treatment

The East Sussex Emergency NHS Dental Service can only treat patients who have an urgent care need that meets the strict triage criteria around clinical symptoms.

If you need urgent dental help and advice during normal surgery hours please contact your own dentist.

The service offers out of hours urgent treatment to patients who reside in East Sussex. Patients contacting the service will be triaged and an appointment will be offered to those that meet the criteria.

Please note this is not a drop in service – an appointment must be made prior to attendance.

Telephone numbers

Eastbourne – 01323 449170

Hastings – 01424 850792

Lewes – 01273 486444

Weekday evenings

The service is open between 6.30pm and 10.30pm on weekday evenings with appointments between 7pm and 9pm.

Weekends and Bank Holidays

Opening hours at weekends and Bank Holidays are as follows:

  • Eastbourne – 1pm to 5.30pm with appointments between 2pm to 4pm
  • Hastings and Lewes – 9am to 1.30pm with appointments between 10am to 12pm

How we work

On most occasions accessing urgent care with your usual dentist is the best way to support with any ongoing care needs. All local NHS Dental Practices are expected to help patients seeking urgent dental care regardless if they are on the practice business list or not.

There may be limited treatment options when accessing care in an out of hour’s setting. Some treatment may be of a temporary nature to manage an acute problem and further dental care may be required from a daytime dentist. Telephone call operators assess all patients and once satisfied that the patients care need is a priority, an appointment may be offered.

Access to the clinic is controlled and patients will not be allowed into the site unless they have an appointment. Service users are asked to respect staff as they try to help. Any calls of an abusive nature will not be tolerated and will be terminated.

When NHS patient charges apply, payment may be taken remotely at the appointment booking stage. Most credit or debit cards are accepted. Patients who are exempt from dental charges will need to bring proof of exemption with them.

Please be aware that you may be offered care at an alternative site if there is availability or remote management if appropriate.