LIZ HUNT
Health Editor
About one million people have disappeared from dental registers in the past year as dentists reduce the number of NHS patients they are prepared to treat, Labour claimed yesterday.
The continuing crisis in the dental service has produced a sharp North- South divide, with many Southern counties and rural areas now well below the national registration rate of 55 per100 population.
According to the figures compiled by the Dental Practice Board and released by Labour, there were 22.9 million people 18 or over registered with a dentist in September 1994. By June 1995, this figure had fallen to 22 milion people, a drop of four per cent. Many dentists are de-registering their adult NHS patients and switching to private work only or insurance plans.
Tessa Jowell, Labour spokeswoman on Health said: "These figures confirm that NHS dentistry is fast becoming a thing of the past...The only choice which many people now face is to go private or receive no treatment at all."
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