Dentaline: an out of hours emergency dental service in Kent.

Following wide consultation in 1991 on how to meet the requirement for out-of-hours emergency service provision, Kent Family Health Services Authority established three emergency dental clinics. The sites chosen were in or adjacent to District General Hospital Accident and Emergency Departments. Local dentists were contracted to provide a service each evening and also weekend and bank holiday mornings. Activity is reported for the three and a quarter year period from October 1991 to December 1994 with 300 dentists operating a rota to attend the clinics to provide 'occasional treatment' for all-comers. Drugs, if required, are dispensed directly and, where appropriate, NHS charges levied. On average, each operator works once every 3 months.