Have a little story for you all.....now i dont think this would be any good if you were just looking for a check up or a clean but if you need anything else done it could be helpfull.
Move to london last year to do a college course, had to go in for 1 filling, at the time of my appointment my daughters father was over visiting and he happened to come with me. While i was being drilled away ( such fun ) he was gasing to the receptionist. He had had a check up a month before( in ireland ) and was told he needed 3 fillings. Was going to cost around 300 euro i think, but he had to wait to book the appointment because he didn't have the money.After i was finished the recepionist asked if he wanted to make an appointment for him to get his teeth sorted out. It would only cost £40.80 under the nhs ( it covers a check up, x-rays and up to 4 fillings, the next opion up is i think around £100 pound and thats for unlimited fillings root canals ect ect ) I told her that he couldn't get it done in the uk as he's not a resident, he doesn't work here and he doesn't live has no N.I number ( I'm english so i already have one ) he's only over visiting. She told us that doesn't matter you dont need to give your N.I number all you need is an english address and he used mine.
So he made an appointment to come over in 3 weeks time (€20 with ryanair both ways including taxes ) he had his appointment on the monday where they did x-rays, turns out he needs 4 fillings, and on the tuesday he got all his fillings done, clean, polish the works all for the lovely price of £40.80. This was 7 months ago i still think a huge bill is going to come through the door but it never has!
You have to go to a dentist that is in the catchment area of the address where you are living/staying, cause he was thinking of going up to the north instead of flying over as he's only a 40 min drive from the border. But he couldn't do that he had to go to my dentist. But if your every visiting anyone in the uk and need a bit of work done, as them to make an appointment for you with their dentist. Make sure you get them to pencil in another appointment while your over there just incase you need something done, if you dont then they can cancel and there's no harm done.