Figures highlight crisis over NHS dentists

The shortage of NHS dentists is highlighted in new figures out today.

Research suggests there are fewer than two dentists per 10,000 people in some parts of Britain.

This compares badly with Europe and the US, where there are up to nine dentists per 10,000 patients. Faced with the figures, out in the International-Journal of Health Geographics, experts called for at least five dentists per 10,000.

But the situation in London is better than in many parts of the country, with Westminster registering 8.8 dentists per 10,000 residents, compared with only 1.6 in Cambridgeshire. Camden and Islington both have more than five dentists per 10,000, but Tower Hamlets has 2.5.