Less than half of adults have a state dentist

The pressure on NHS dental services is exposed today as new figures show less than half of adults have a state dentist.

Millions of people are languishing without dental care because NHS practices will not take on new patients.

The situation is particularly serious in London, where the number of people registered slumped again last year.

Children are also suffering, with under half of those living in some parts of the capital signed up with a dentist.

Details of the crisis emerged days after the publication of pictures showing hundreds of people queuing outside a dental practice in Scarborough in the hope of registering with a new NHS dentist. By the end of Monday, 1,000 people were on the books of Dutch dentist Aria Van Drie, who was drafted in after health chiefs failed to find anyone in this country willing to take over the practice.

Figures obtained from the Department of Health by the Liberal Democrats today suggest the extraordinary scenes could occur anywhere - with just 44 per cent of adults in England registered with a state dentist last year. In 2002, 44.2 per cent of adults were signed up.

A breakdown of the figures in the capital suggests that the situation is worst in south-west London, where barely a third of adults are registered. Patients living in south-east London fare little better, where just 36.7 per cent are on a register.

MP Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman, said: "With so few dentists accepting NHS patients in London it is little wonder that the levels of people registering with the NHS are so low."

Just over half of all children in London are registered with a dentist, though the figure is lower in certain areas, such as north-east London, where it stands at 44.8 per cent.

In 1999, Prime Minister Tony Blair promised everybody could have access to an NHS dentist within two years.

However, many Londoners are unable to find clinics with spaces on their registers. In a snapshot survey by the Evening Standard yesterday, 13 out of 20 practices we contacted throughout London could not take on any new NHS patients.

Only three clinics were able to accept new patients immediately - with four saying it would take 10 days to three weeks unless the new patient was in pain.

A member of staff at one Edgware Road practice said: "We have gone private not for the money but because on the NHS side there was too much bureaucracy."

Many of those who cannot register with a state dentist and are unable to afford private care are forced to visit NHS drop-in clinics, where staff do not have access to their records and only provide emergency care.

State dentists, who are self-employed and work as "independent contractors" for the Government, receive about £18 for filling a tooth. The private patient fee is about £50.

From next year, local Primary Care Trusts will be given new powers to set their own pay scales for NHS dentists working in their area.

A spokesman for the British Dental Association said: "We have long been campaigning to secure more funding and better investment for NHS dentistry. There are only 13 dental schools in the whole of the UK, producing just 800 dental graduates each year. The BDA wants to see this figure increase by 25 per cent."