Dentist and optician when you move house

Moving checklists usually file "dentist and optician" straight after the GP, as if the same rules apply. They don't. A GP surgery covers a catchment area and will register you as a right, with a 14-day written reason required if it refuses. Dentists and opticians work differently, and the difference cuts both ways: more freedom, less guarantee.

The dentist: no catchment, but no promise either

NHS England's own guidance is short and direct: "You can contact any NHS dentist and ask for an appointment if you have symptoms or need a routine check-up." There's no postcode rule like a GP's. The trade-off is that nothing obliges a practice to take you.

• Some practices mix NHS and private work. NHS England's guidance: "Some dental practices offer both NHS and private appointments. Ask for an NHS appointment" — worth saying explicitly when you call, rather than assuming.
• You may be asked to join a waiting list before you're seen at all.
• Filling in a form at your first visit doesn't secure the future. The guidance is explicit: it "does not mean you'll always be able to get NHS dental care at the same dental practice" afterwards — a practice can still stop taking NHS patients later.
• Most adults pay for NHS dental treatment anyway. This isn't a free-at-the-point-of-use service the way a GP visit is; it changes what's at stake, not whether to bother.

The optician: no registration concept at all

An optician is simpler again, because there's nothing resembling patient registration to do. You book an eye test wherever you like, in the new area or anywhere else, and the practice doesn't need to request anything from a previous one for the appointment to go ahead. NHS guidance on what follows an eye test is specific: an optometrist "is legally required to give you your optical prescription" afterwards, so if your old prescription doesn't travel with you, your current eyes still will.

The NHS's own advice on frequency hasn't changed because you moved: "The NHS recommends that you should have your eyes tested every 2 years" (more often if your optometrist says so). A move is a reasonable prompt to book one if you're overdue, not a reason the clock resets.

Two different jobs hiding under one checklist line

"Dentist and optician" on a moving list is really two separate decisions, and which one applies depends on distance, not on any rule either profession sets:

That's a genuinely different shape from the GP page, where the only real decision is finding a surgery that covers your new address and registering — nothing optional about it, nothing to weigh up.

Where this sits in the move

Neither of these carries a deadline or a penalty, which is exactly why they sit in the forgetful end of the who-to-notify list rather than the urgent top. The real cost of leaving it is a missed check-up reminder or a prescription nobody has on file — small, but the kind of thing that's annoying for months rather than days.

MovePlan's letter pack includes a change-of-address letter addressed to "your dental practice" and another to "your optician" — both written for staying with your current one and simply updating the address on your record, filled in with your name and both addresses from what you enter. If a longer move means you need a new dentist or optician altogether, there's no letter for that because, per the sections above, neither profession runs a process you'd write one for — you contact the new practice directly.