"Emergency dental treatment in Edinburgh"

On Christmas day I developed a severe toothache in a front upper incisor. Since returning to Edinburgh last year we have been unable to find an NHS dentist, so I phoned the emergency dental service. I was eventually put on to a dental nurse, who questioned me closely about my pain. She refused to put me on to a dentist but suggested taking 2 paracetamol tabs 4 hourly.

As I am a retired medic I was able to self-prescribe metronidazole 200mgs tabs which is the standard treatment for abscesses in or around teeth. My GP later told me this is what he would have done and also that he, like me, found the emergency dental arrangements in Edinburgh 'hopeless'.

We have found that the emergency medical services in Edinburgh to be superb and find it disappointing that the dental equivalent is so poor. It is also impossible to find an NHS dentist here.