Out-of-hours care, dentists and child health clinics in Oslo

The clinic is at Trondheimsveien 233, on the grounds of Aker hospital, and is open around the clock, including public holidays. Call 116 117 before you go — they assess the urgency, and often you can skip the trip.

With small children it is worth knowing that the clinic has separate waiting rooms for children, and that small and frightened children are seen as quickly as possible. That makes the wait less unpredictable than its reputation suggests.

If your child is ill during the day and it is not urgent: call your GP first. The out-of-hours clinic is for what cannot wait until the next working day.

Necessary dental treatment in the public dental service is free through the end of the year the child turns 18 — not up to the birthday, but for the whole calendar year. For someone turning 18 in January that is almost a year extra. Children are called in for check-ups automatically, in the county where they are registered.

The big exception is orthodontics. Braces are not covered by the free service, and that is the bill that surprises families most. Ask about the cost and any support schemes before treatment starts, not afterwards.

From the year you turn 19 through the year you turn 28 you pay yourself, but the county service may only charge 25 per cent of the set rates. That requires the treatment to happen there, not at a private dentist.

The child health clinic follows your child from birth until they start school, and everything is free. It belongs to the district you live in, and you are called in — this is not something you have to work out yourself. Here your child is weighed and measured, vaccinations are given, and it is the place to raise sleep, feeding, speech and anything else you wonder about without wanting to use a doctor's appointment on it.

Once school starts, the school health service takes over. Every school has a public health nurse, and several also have a doctor, physiotherapist or psychologist. Also free.

For teenagers there is the youth health clinic, open to everyone between 12 and 24. It is free, and you can choose freely which one to visit — you are not tied to your own district. That last part is worth mentioning to a teenager who would rather not meet anyone they know.