Dental costs `deter patients'

High charges are stopping people visiting the dentist while more people may have been forced into having private treatment because they are being denied NHS care, the Consumers' Association says today. A survey by Which? Way to Health magazine found that nearly twice as many people are now having private treatment than two years ago.

"Choosing private dental care, or being forced to go private as NHS care wasn't available, could have led to this change," the magazine says. The survey found that 64 per cent of more than 1,000 people questioned received all their treatment on the NHS, against 80 per cent in 1992, when a dispute with the Government over dental fees led to a majority of dentists voting to stop taking on new NHS patients.

Sixty per cent of dental practices contacted in the survey said they were registering new NHS patients, compared with 53 per cent in 1992. However, in areas such as the Midlands and Wales, the proportion dropped to 48 per cent.

There is also no guarantee that patients would be taken on after their teeth had been seen: more than a third of practices which said they were taking on new NHS patients also said patients would need a check-up before final registration.

More than a quarter of people surveyed said they had not visited the dentist in 18 months, down from a third in 1992. But more people are citing cost as a factor - 41 per cent against 27 per cent in 1992.

The magazine says some dentists are "cherry-picking" patients whom they accept for NHS treatment and also criticises the Government for the lack of detail in its proposals for dentistry. It says costs could be cut by allowing dental auxiliaries to do more dental work.