THE NHS dental service across Greater Manchester is in crisis.

A survey has revealed that almost two-thirds of health service dentists are considering going into private practice over the introduction of new contracts.

This comes on top of a damning catalogue of problems including:

Patients unable to find an NHS dentist, with only one in every eight practices in the region registering new patients because their books are already overflowing. An adult with a job is unable to get on the books of an NHS dentist in half the local authority areas of Greater Manchester.

People are being thrown off NHS lists by their dentists and told they will have to pay for private treatment or find a different practice.

Patients queue around the block from dawn at Manchester's only emergency dental hospital.

Red tape crippling dentists, leading many to opt for the private sector - for example, Dr Andrew Medina, a dentist in Oldham has been unable to sell on his fully working practice because of bureaucracy.

Promise

Health minister Rosie Winterton, who is opening a dental therapists and hygienists school in Manchester today, told the M.E.N. last year there would be more dentists in Manchester by last October. They never arrived.

Today's survey by the dentists' union, the Local Dental Committee (LDC), reveals that only 38 per cent of dentists are seriously considering remaining with the NHS after a new contract takes effect in April. Just under half want to leave. The poll was based on responses from 75 per cent of NHS dentists in North, South and Central Manchester Primary Care Trust areas.

In South Manchester, almost three-quarters have signalled their intention to turn private.

Under the old rules, dental practices were run as private businesses and paid per operation by the NHS. Under the new contracts, Primary Care Trusts will pay for the running of the practice. Dentists say they will not receive enough money to treat patients properly.

Seven out of eight practices have closed their doors to new patients, according to the NHS Gateway website.

For example, in the Didsbury and Burnage areas of Manchester six practices have gone private in the last year while just one NHS practice has opened.

Registered

At private practices, operations cost three to five times more than the NHS. A private check-up costs upwards of £35, an extraction £50, and a crown more than £350.

Nicola Owen, who runs a practice in Didsbury with three other dentists, went private just weeks ago. Patients are being charged £10.60 a month to stay registered.

She said: "We tried to hang on as long as we could to the old system, but we simply felt we could not give patients the level of care we have been under the new contract. We care for the standard of our work and we will not be allowed to do our jobs properly."

Last week the M.E.N. highlighted the fact that it is no longer possible for a working adult to find a practice anywhere in Rochdale. It's a similar situation in Bolton, Heywood and Middleton, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford North, according to the NHS website.

Jackie Duxbury, dental spokeswoman for north, central and south Manchester PCTs, said: "It gives some cause for concern when some dentists previously committed to the NHS are worried."