True scale of NHS dentist crisis

The continuing crisis in Britain's NHS dental services is exposed by damning new figures released today.

The statistics show hundreds of thousands of Londoners remain without access to a state dentist. And they reveal a sharp rise in the number of London dentists abandoning NHS work. The gloomy picture comes despite Tony Blair's 1999 vow that everyone would have access to an NHS dentist "within two years". The figures show:

Labour has promised to increase the number of dentists amid complaints about the difficulties of registering with an NHS dentist.

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

According to figures from the Dental Practice Board, in some parts of London there are fewer than 40 dentists per 100,000 residents. At the same time there has been a huge drop in the number of patients registered.

The situation is worst in south-west London where fewer than a third of adults are registered - one of the lowest rates in England.

It is a similar story in north-west

London where only 34.4 per cent of adults are registered and south-east London where 35.9 per cent of adults are signed up. The figures for child registrations are also declining. In central, north-west and north-east London fewer than half of children are registered.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Sarah Teather said the figures were shocking.

"The Government have let dentistry wither on the vine. They should listen to dentists and pay them enough to stay practising. And they should listen to the public and increase access dramatically."

The British Dental Association said dental services in England were at " crisis point". The spokesman said: "In the UK, we produce just 800 new graduates a year. In the meantime, decreasing investment over time in NHS dentistry means that many dentists are taking the difficult decision to reduce their NHS work."