Dental treatment

Information for dental practitioners and patients about treatment offered by the school.

Information for dental practitioners

Bristol Dental School has established a clinical dental facility with a sole purpose to support dental education. We do not hold an NHS contract to deliver dental services, however we may accept a limited number of patients to support the delivery of dental education.

Treatment needs must meet the training requirements of undergraduate student training for dentists or hygiene/therapy students. Recruitment for patients will be on that basis only. This means that some types of dental treatment may not be provided at the new dental school. We have published patient acceptance criteria.

We are unable to accept walk-in patients, or offer a specialist advice service to practitioners.

Acceptance criteria

Current status of acceptance:

Patient acceptance criteria.

Shared care principles

Bristol Dental School moved to 1 Trinity Quay on Avon Street autumn 2023. The aim of the new school is to focus on clinical training for dental undergraduates to meet the standards set out by the GDC learning outcomes Preparing for Practice. In the undergraduate training pathway, there is a delicate balance between provision of dental health care and the achievement of sufficient clinical technical experience to support Preparing for Practice.

The new school does not hold a formal NHS provider contract for the delivery of Dental Health Care. This provides the dental school with the flexibility to explore different models of patient recruitment to not only facilitate patient access for treatment but also supports the requirements of the stages for undergraduate clinical training and experience.

We are keen to work with colleagues in Primary Dental Care on our concept of shared care, looking to optimise the undergraduate experience, the patient experience and strengthened collaboration with general practice. We have been supported by Avon Local Dental Committee to provide information on our student requirements and share our patient acceptance criteria.

Information for patients

Bristol Dental School is a clinical training and education facility. We do not hold an NHS contract to deliver dental services, however we may accept a limited number of patients to support the delivery of dental education.

Treatment needs must meet the training requirements of undergraduate student training for dentists or hygiene/therapy students. Recruitment for patients will be on that basis only. This means that some types of dental treatment may not be provided at the new dental school (such as tooth whitening or other aesthetic treatments).

How to become a patient

If you would like to volunteer, you will first require an assessment to allow us to determine whether you have treatment needs suitable for our students. 

You can express an interest in volunteering to become a patient here.

Please note that we will close this link when we have received sufficient patient self-referrals to allow us to assess volunteers for their suitability.

If you meet our acceptance criteria you will be offered an appointment with students. Our students are undergoing clinical training under supervision of qualified members of staff, appointment times may be long and appointment availability is based on the student timetable. 

You must only attend Bristol Dental School if you have a pre-booked appointment. We are unable to see or treat walk-in patients, or patients out of hours. For access to emergency dental services please contact NHS 111.

If you have any questions, please contact our patient administrators:
Email: student-treatments@bristol.ac.uk
Phone: 0117 374 6647

Opening hours

We do not usually operate outside of term times or during assessment periods. Our usual term time opening hours are:

  • Monday 9 am to 5 pm
  • Tuesday 9 am to 5 pm
  • Wednesday 9 am to 12:30 pm
  • Thursday 9 am to 5 pm
  • Friday 9 am to 5 pm

Policies

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