Call us free on 0800 0853 823

Call us free on 0800 0853 823 or request a callback (No obligation)

UK Leading Firm 2025

Dental Complaints

Do you want to make a complaint about your dentist but aren’t sure where to start?

When it comes to dentist complaints, the options available to you can feel tricky to navigate. Every situation needs to be handled differently, so we’ve put together this handy guide to help you take action.

At the Dental Law Partnership, we’re a specialist firm of dental negligence solicitors, representing patients in the majority of the dental negligence claims in action in England and Wales today. Established in August 2000, our firm features a qualified team of both dentists and solicitors who have a vast breadth of knowledge in dealing with all kinds of dental negligence claims.

You don’t need to make a complaint to pursue legal action, and if you’d like to go straight to making a claim, request a callback with Dental Law today.

See if you have a case for dental negligence:

Start Your Claim

or call us free on: 0800 0853 823

Trustpilot

Find out how to make a complaint

If you’ve suffered dental negligence or you’re unhappy with dental treatment, you might want to make a formal complaint against your dentist. By making an official complaint, you may be able to gain a refund for the treatment you paid for, but this won’t cover remedial treatment. If you’re looking for financial compensation, you should make a dental negligence claim.

Making a legal claim can help raise awareness of the issue and ensure that other people don’t suffer the same negligence that you’ve experienced.

If further treatment is required following NHS treatment, this will be covered for free in most cases, as long as treatment is carried out within one year of your original dental work.

Once you’ve decided to make a complaint about your dentist, you’ll need to narrow down your options. The route you take will depend on a number of factors, including:

How to raise a complaint directly with your dentist

The first step is usually to raise a complaint directly with your dentist. Dental complaints have to be made within one year of the related treatment, so if you notice any problems, it’s important to lodge a complaint within this timeframe.

Your dentist should be able to help you with your complaint, but if you feel that they aren’t taking it as seriously as they should be, you may want to escalate higher within the practice.

The complaints process differs depending on whether you had NHS or private dental treatment. Regardless of who completed your work, you’re entitled to complain directly to the dentist who worked on your teeth.

If you need more advice on your rights as a patient or if you are not satisfied with your dentist’s response, you can raise with the General Dental Council (GDC) or the Dental Complaints Service (DCS).

Making a complaint to an NHS dentist

The first step with an NHS dental complaint is to complain to the practice manager or directly to the dentist who completed your work. You should follow the official NHS complaints procedure, and you can raise a grievance in writing, via email or by speaking to someone in person.

All NHS complaints should be made within one year of the treatment that you’re complaining about.

How to escalate NHS dental complaints

If you’ve tried making a complaint to the NHS dentist or practice manager and the outcome has not been satisfactory, there are several further steps you can take. As previously stated, you can escalate to NHS England if you haven’t managed to resolve your complaint with the practice itself. The dental complaint still needs to be made within one year of the related treatment occurring.

As well as complaining to NHS England, you can speak to the commissioner of the service in question. The commissioner is the body that pays for the NHS service used for your dental treatment. To find your local commissioner, contact NHS England on their website, and they’ll be able to help you find the correct team.

If your complaint is in relation to dental treatment gone wrong, or you believe you’ve suffered harm due to your dentist’s actions or inactions, you can seek advice from a solicitor specializing in dental negligence law, like The Dental Law Partnership. We will go through your case and see if we can help you make a claim.

How to complain to a private dentist

If your treatment was completed by a private dentist, the process for complaining is slightly different. You should still take the same steps to contact your dentist, but your practice will have its own complaints procedure to follow rather than standardised NHS guidelines. The practice manager can provide you with this information upon request.

If you’re unhappy with the way your complaint has been handled and want to escalate it further, the next step is to contact the Dental Complaints Service (DCS).

The DCS offers an independent complaints service. They are funded by the General Dental Council (GDC), which is the regulatory body for UK dentists.

What is the Dental Complaints Service (DCS)?

The DCS is an advisory team created specifically for private dental patients. The DCS is who you should contact to escalate your complaint if it is unresolved or if you don’t want to go through your dentist at all.

The DCS offers a free and impartial service, which is funded by the General Dental Council, and can help you gain an apology or explanation of what went wrong, help you get a refund, or help you get contributions toward remedial treatment. The DCS cannot help you if your complaint contains claims for pain and suffering or loss of earnings. The majority of their cases are resolved within one week.

Contact the General Dental Council (GDC)

The General Dental Council (GDC) may also be able to help you if you have a dental complaint. The GDC’s role is to register qualified dental professionals and ensure dentists are competent and qualified to work in a dental practice. They also set dental standards and work to improve dental education, following the 1984 Dentists Act, which provides a legal framework for dental treatment in the UK.

All dentists and dental professionals based within the UK have to be registered with the GDC to practice.

A fitness to practice investigation process can take up to 18 months if needed, making it the lengthiest course to pursue action. The GDC only covers certain complaints – a full list can be found here.

Private patients are not covered by the NHS complaints system, so the General Dental Council created the Dental Complaints Service to offer them support.

Other ways to make a dental complaint

Beyond the options above, there are several other ways to make a dental complaint.

Speak to the Ombudsman

An ombudsman investigates complaints about organisations and can offer advice on how to resolve any issues. They are impartial and independent and aim to ensure fair decisions. Dentistry claims fall under the remit of the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman (PHSO).

You should contact the PHSO after exhausting all other options or if you’ve contacted NHS England and are unhappy with their response.

The PHSO only deals with NHS complaints, and they work independently of the government and the NHS. They make the final decision on complaints, so you won’t be able to escalate a complaint once the PHSO has been contacted.

To get in touch with the PHSO, you can call them on 0345 015 4033 or fill out the contact form on their website.

Raise concerns with the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care, covering a wide range of healthcare organisations, including care homes, hospitals and dental practices.

The CQC is not allowed to take complaints forward on behalf of a patient. They can, however, use the information given to conduct an investigation and help to prevent further harm coming to other patients.

You can find out more about the CQC’s guidelines here.

Consider legal advice or action

If you’ve made a complaint and found that your efforts have gotten you nowhere, you might want to consider legal advice and make a compensation claim.

If you have suffered a loss of earnings or severe pain and suffering at the hands of your dentist, you may wish to make a dental negligence claim. Making a dental negligence claim with an expert solicitor, such as the Dental Law Partnership, is the only way to get monetary compensation for substandard care.

If you have cause to complain about your dentist, the Dental Law Partnership will review if you have a dental negligence claim.

A legal solicitor can provide you with the legal know-how and dental expertise required to bring a claim against your dentist for work completed in England or Wales.

If your claim is successful, any awarded compensation can help you to pay for any procedures needed to rectify your issue.

You don’t need to have already filed a complaint in order to instruct a lawyer, and you can just go straight to making a claim.

Let your complaints be heard with the Dental Law Partnership

If you’ve tried and failed through many routes of complaining, the Dental Law Partnership will take your concerns seriously.

Our specialist firm of solicitors provide high-quality legal representation for patients who have suffered dental negligence. Our expert team is made up of both dentists and solicitors, with all of our directors having a clinical background, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best help available.

There are many different types of dental injury claims that we can help you with, and our case studies are a testament to our success in dealing with a number of different issues.

If you’d like to find out more about starting a claim for any dental injury or negligence, contact us on 0800 0853 823 to speak to one of our advisers today or fill out our contact form.

See if you have a case for dental negligence:

Start Your Claim

or call us free on: 0800 0853 823