Community dental service based out of hours emergency dental care--a pilot study.

Twenty-nine out-of-hours calls were received during the 6-week period. Advice was offered to 27 patients and two call-outs were made for treatment of acute abscesses in children. Eight patients claimed to be under treatment with the CDS, 17 claimed to be registered with a general dental practitioner, while four claimed not to be registered. A demand for an emergency service was demonstrated, as was the need to define accurately the categories of patients eligible for emergency treatment within the CDS. The pilot study also highlighted the requirement to fund this service adequately.