Being extremely nervous of dentists, I’m looking for one that understands my fear. My husband and I both need to get some serious work done on our teeth and for the past two years have been searching for a dentist in our area (around Parthenay, North Deux Sevres). We’ve contacted several recommendations from neighbours and friends but there is no-one available who will take on new patients at the moment. Yesterday my wife spent most of the afternoon on the phone trying to make an appointment but without any luck at all.
Can any of you recommend someone (we don’t mind travelling around 50km) who would be able to take us on as patients. We do hope so!
I share your efforts, I do not have urgent need as I simply can’t remember the last time I had anything like toothache, but I do have a broken tooth which is set in a sometime infected area of gum, so would like to have it out and maybe a lower plate made. But I too cannot find one that will take on new patients, even more, my nearest town, Nontron (24) seems to have none at all. They seem to have retired or gone away for some reason. One of them was in a purpose built and grandly named Central Dental Clinic, or something like that, but the place is all shut up and a sign on the door says ‘closed until a dentist can be found’.
Best of luck.
The dentist at Nontron is Dr Kun and he is situated on Jules Ferry Avenue, near to the Credit Agricole and opposite the high school. You have to wait approximately three months for an appointment but he is very thorough. Hope you get sorted
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Thank you @Gilly2 , I am pretty sure he was the last one I saw when the tooth next to the one in question snapped off and I asked him to make a bridge. He declined on the grounds that the X-ray he took revealed the gum infection, which re-occurs now and again without pain or discomfort. He suggested a full, almost, lower plate but I declined at the time. He was one of those that was listed as ‘closed till further notice’ when I searched before. I’ll try again though in view of what you say. 
I have had the same problem in Normandy. An implant fell in half. I have the bits …
The post is still firmly embedded and I only need another implant fitted onto it. As I’m half-way thru’ another implant procedure which began in '20 before I legged it from ES to FR to beat the 31/12/20 deadline, I shall go back to the dentist in ES.
I understand that dentists are few and far between in FR because the career/reumuneration scheme in FR is such that it is not a profession that appeals - a French dentist would rather work abroad.
If both of you need ‘serious work’ it may pay you, dentally and financially, to go abroad. I have had superb treatment at very reasonable cost at a state-of-the-art surgery in Valencia. Ryanair flies there from Nantes for +/- 40€ p.p. e/w.
A friend had 6 [!] implants done at a clinic in Marbella for less than 1/2 the cost in UK while his wife had a nice holiday.
Poland is another dental destination. Good English is widely spoken in PL and many of the medical professionals have had some of their training, especially at the ‘high-tech’ end, in the USA or UK.
As for a sudden need for dental treatment in FR, I dread to think …
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Thank you Gilly2 but Nontron is nearly 200km away from us so a little too far in this case. But I appreciate your input.
captainendeavour: we wish we could do as you suggest - travel to another country, we especially fancy Poland - but we have too many animals at home to put them into kennels/catteries/horse centres for this to work.
Both of us are at a stage where we have lost more teeth than we have remaining and have decided that it’s time to whip the whole lot out and have dentures. It would mean that we could then eat normal food and not have stuff that is either minced or liquidised!!
Rachel, have you tried Dr. Oliver Marec in Fontenay-le-Comte or the other I used was Dr Bindel in La Chapelle St Laurent? I don’t know if either are taking new patients but the Fontenay clinic might as they had several youngish dentists.
Same with us @Rachel05, although the dog is not the problem, he loves travelling, but my wife for whom it could be difficult.
Debby_Wade - thank you. Dr Marec is on our list to contact and he’s not too far away. We tried through doctolib and he is the only dentist you can make a RDV with but that is if you are already his patient. I’ve been in contact with Dr Bindel (and his wife too) because Chapelle St Laurent is not far from us but he is no longer taking patients as through health reasons he/they will be retiring either this year or 2023.
That’s a shame about Dr Bindel, he’s a lovely man, one of those gently, calm people, very reassuring if you’re nervous. You could try being a bit cheeky & pop along to Dr Marec’s surgery, there’s a number of dentists there and the receptionist might find someone else willing to see you, sometimes it seems to be a bit harder to say no, face to face! But good luck with your search, if I think of another near I’ll let you know.
Getting appointments via Doctolib in this area seriously limits your choices as there are dentists who either aren’t registered with it or only offer limited choices on that platform. Ringing up (unfortunately) is often the only way to get appointments. There are quite a few dentists in our area but you have to find them via yellow pages or sites like dentiste.fr (for emergency treatment). I’m very sorry but I have no experience of your area @Rachel05 so can’t offer any better suggestions than that 
ADDED: As with doctors, ameli.fr is a good place to start looking too - if you go to
Trouver Chirurgiens-dentistes - Professionnels de santé
and select your Departement, you’ll then get a list of towns - if you look at each one reasonably near to you, you’ll get a list of all dentists there! It only gives you the ones that are operating independently though, but it’s a start…
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Just asked a friend that lives in your area because someone else I know there has an urgent need for a dentist. They can’t say if the dentist is taking new peeps on but you could try Dr Deborde in Moncoutant, fingers crossed.
This thread just reminded me that I need to register with a dentist, as having moved to France a year ago. I literally just went onto the net, looked at a few different dentists websites and found one that I could visit mid Feb for a first check up. Maybe I was very lucky, but quite relieved, as I certainly learnt the hard way, before trying to be preventative on the teeth front!
@AngelaR - We were using Doctolib and PagesJaune for reference only realising that it was not a comprehensive list but the links you sent are really helpful so thank you for them.
@Debby_Wade - Dr Deborde is on our list to phone so, as you say, fingers crossed.
Also we contacted www.mfca.fr/dentaire/ who wrote that they ‘cannot follow up on our request as their schedules do not allow it’. Not sure what that actually means but we have written back to them saying we don’t mind waiting a few months so we hope to get a reply soon.
All the names we get from this information on here is being put together so we have a full list we can phone around and work through.
Again, your input is very much appreciated.
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I think I can call myself lucky. Being located in Normandy I have a good dentist, whom I visit twice a year to keep my teeth in good shape. She is very busy, but appreciates good dental hygiene.
Yes, us too. We have an excellent dentist. My OH had an issue with the last molar on the bottom left. The tooth had cracked. He saw her the next day, crown needed. She had her first appointment for the crown 4 days later and two more a week apart after that. The whole process took 3 weeks and she now has a brand new crown. Marvellous, and I do realize that we are amazingly lucky to have this level of service in France.
Where abouts in Normandy? I’m at Vire [14]
On the coast
The coast …
Allowing for your wish to maintain security of your location, perhaps you would be prepared to divulge where the dentist has his clinic? I can’t think why you would want to contribute to this thread in the terms you have if you were not prepared to let us know who this dentist is, as others have done with theirs, complete with contact details.
That is, after all, what the o.p. was asking for.
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