Emergency dental care
Emergency dental fees: what the £30 examination includes
Nobody should have to guess what an emergency visit will cost while they are in pain. Here is every fee, what it covers, and how the price for treatment is agreed before we start.
Clinically reviewed by Dr Ibraheem Ijaz, Principal Dentist · GDC 301711 · Last reviewed April 2026
The £30 emergency examination, item by item
The emergency examination is £30. It is a 15-minute appointment with a dentist and it includes:
- A conversation about what has happened, your medical history and any medicines you take.
- An examination of the tooth or area, the teeth around it and the soft tissues, with the tests needed to find the cause: tapping, cold testing, bite testing and gum probing as appropriate.
- The digital X-rays needed to make the diagnosis. Small X-rays are normally £15 each; within the emergency examination they are included, however many are needed.
- A clear explanation of what is wrong and what the options are, including doing nothing for now.
- A written price for any treatment before it begins.
- Advice on managing the problem at home, and a prescription where one is genuinely needed.
It does not include treatment. If you decide to have treatment at the same visit, that is priced separately from the table below, and the £30 is not refunded against it. There is no extra charge for being a new patient, and no registration fee. What actually happens in the 15 minutes is described on our emergency examination and X-rays page.
Typical emergency treatment prices
These are the treatments most often carried out at or straight after an emergency visit. Prices are ‘from’ figures or ranges because the size of the tooth, the number of roots and how difficult the work is all vary. You will always be given an exact figure for your tooth before anything starts.
So a typical bill for a toothache that turns out to need a root canal is £30 for the examination plus from £200 for the first stage on the day, with the remainder of the root canal fee paid as the treatment is completed. A broken tooth rebuilt with a white filling at the same visit is £30 plus £150–£220. A straightforward extraction is £30 plus £120–£260. Our full price list, including routine care, is on the fees page.
| Treatment | Fee |
|---|---|
| Emergency examination including X-rays | £30 |
| Small X-ray outside an emergency examination | £15 |
| CBCT 3D scan (where a flat X-ray cannot show the problem) | £150 |
| Temporary or emergency filling | Quoted at the examination |
| White (composite) filling | £150–£220 |
| Silver (amalgam) filling | £120–£160 |
| Emergency root canal, stage 1 (drain, clean and dress the tooth) | From £200 |
| Root canal treatment, complete | From £450 |
| Re-root canal treatment | On request |
| Draining an abscess (incision and drainage) | Quoted at the examination |
| Extraction | £120–£260 |
| Wisdom tooth extraction | £350–£450 |
| Recementing a crown that has come off | Quoted at the examination |
| Temporary crown | Quoted at the examination |
| All-ceramic crown | £750–£1,000 |
| Dry socket dressing | Quoted at the examination |
| Splinting a loose tooth | Quoted at the examination |
| Conscious sedation | £200 per session |
Evening and weekend charges
We are open 8am to 8pm, seven days a week. That is a longer day than most practices, and the later and weekend hours cost more to staff. An additional out-of-hours charge applies to appointments after 6pm on weekdays and to appointments on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays. It is added to the examination fee and is told to you on the phone before you book, so there is never a surprise at the desk. If you can safely wait until the following weekday morning the charge does not apply, and we will tell you honestly if we think you can.
Overnight, between 8pm and 8am, the practice number diverts to the 24-hour line answered by the principal dentist. There is no charge for the call or the advice. What each part of the day looks like is set out in our guide to weekend and out-of-hours care.
How your price is agreed before treatment starts
- After the examination the dentist explains what they have found and the options, usually two or three, from the simplest to the most durable.
- Each option is written down with its price on a treatment plan, which you keep.
- You choose. There is no pressure to have treatment at the emergency visit; many people have the pain settled today and decide on the larger work at home.
- Treatment only begins once you have agreed the plan. If something unexpected is found part-way through, for instance a crack that means a filling will not hold, we stop, explain and re-agree the price before continuing.
- You pay for the work done at each visit, so a two-visit root canal is paid in two parts.
The written plan is a General Dental Council requirement as well as our habit; if you are ever quoted a price by a dental practice only after the work is done, that is not how it should be.
Spreading the cost
For treatment beyond the examination, interest-free finance is available through Tabeo: 0% over 6 to 18 months, or longer terms up to 60 months at 10.9% APR representative. It is arranged online in a few minutes, subject to status, and can be set up at the emergency visit so that the treatment goes ahead the same day. Details and an example are on our finance page. We also accept all major cards and contactless.
How our fees compare with NHS urgent care and other private practices
An NHS urgent dental appointment in England costs £27.90 under Band 1, if you can get one. That fee is a little lower than our £30, and the difference in practice is access: NHS urgent slots are limited and often involve ringing NHS 111 and travelling to wherever a slot has come free, while we hold slots every day and treat around eight in ten callers the day they ring. NHS urgent care also usually covers only the immediate problem, with definitive treatment booked separately at NHS band rates.
Among private practices, emergency examinations vary widely, and out-of-hours services in particular often charge a separate call-out or attendance fee on top of the examination, before any treatment. We charge one examination fee, with the evening or weekend addition told to you in advance, and the same treatment prices whichever day you come. Rather than take our word for it, our reviews page has more than 400 Google reviews, many of them from emergency patients, with a 5.0 average.
Cancellations, refunds and paying on the day
If you ring us, fees are paid at the end of the visit. If you book online, the £30 examination fee is taken when you book; it is your examination fee, not an extra charge. If you cannot make your appointment, ring as early as you can so the slot can go to someone else in pain, and we will move or refund an online payment; we understand that emergencies sometimes settle or turn into something else. If treatment you have paid for cannot be completed, for example a second root canal visit that becomes an extraction, the difference is refunded or set against the new treatment.
If you are unsure whether your problem justifies the fee at all, our guide to what counts as a dental emergency sets out which problems need seeing today and which can wait for a routine appointment, where a new patient examination with X-rays is currently £85.
Questions, answered
Common questions
How much does an emergency dentist cost in Sheffield?
At Deepcar Dental Care the emergency examination is £30 including X-rays. Treatment is priced separately and agreed in writing first: fillings from £120, extractions from £120, root canal from £450.
Does the £30 include X-rays?
Yes. Any X-rays needed to diagnose the problem are included in the £30, however many are taken. Only a CBCT 3D scan, needed occasionally, is charged separately at £150.
Does the £30 include treatment?
No. It covers the examination, X-rays, diagnosis and a written plan. Treatment is priced from the table above and only goes ahead once you have agreed the cost.
Is there an extra charge in the evening or at the weekend?
Yes. An additional out-of-hours charge applies after 6pm on weekdays and at weekends and bank holidays. We tell you the amount on the phone before you book.
Do I pay more because I am not a registered patient?
No. There is no registration fee and no new-patient surcharge for emergencies. Anyone can be seen for the same £30.
Can I pay for emergency treatment in instalments?
Yes. Treatment can be spread with 0% finance over 6 to 18 months, or up to 60 months at 10.9% APR representative, through Tabeo, subject to status. It can be set up at the visit.
Is it cheaper to go to an NHS emergency dentist?
An NHS urgent appointment is £27.90, so slightly cheaper for the examination, but NHS urgent slots are scarce and usually only cover the immediate problem. We hold slots every day, 8am to 8pm.
What if I cancel my emergency appointment?
Ring us as early as you can so the slot can be offered to someone else. If you paid the £30 online when booking, we will move it to a new appointment or refund it.
Related guides
More on emergency access
In pain? Don’t wait
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£30 emergency examination including X-rays. Call now and a real person answers, or grab a slot online.
334 Manchester Road, Deepcar, Sheffield S36 2RH · Free parking