It can be extremely difficult to find a health service dentist

Kaye McIntosh, Health Which?

"The problem is far worse in some areas than others - yet another example of our health postcode lottery."

But Dame Margaret Seward, the Chief Dental Officer, said from Friday, people would be able to see an NHS dentist simply by calling NHS Direct on 0845 46 47.

They will then be assessed for a routine or emergency appointment.

She said: "The data contained in the Which? report is at least three to four months old and the system has been strengthened since then in readiness to meet today's commitment.

"Any relevant evaluation as to how the system is performing must be made over the coming months."

Health Which researchers had found in many cases, NHS Direct was unable to help, or advised patients may have to travel some distance to find a dentist.

UK wide survey

Health Which? researchers called 730 dentists across the UK in June to see if they were accepting NHS patients.

How areas fared (% of dentists refusing new NHS patients)

Cornwall - 78 Shropshire 75 Portsmouth - 62 Bournemouth - 57 Lincolnshire - 56 Inverness-shire - 53 Edinburgh - 49 Norwich - 48 Bradford - 43 West Midlands - 40 Maidstone, Kent - 40 Croydon - 37 Oldham - 36 South East Wales - 36 Oxfordshire - 32 North East - 28 Yorkshire - 19 Warrington, Cheshire - 18 Belfast - 14 Acton, London - 8

They found that almost a quarter of all the dentists called were only taking on private patients - others weren't taking on any patients at all.

Patients in Cornwall and Shropshire were the least likely to be able to find an NHS dentist.

The NHS Direct helpline, which is supposed to be able to help people find a dentist, told Health Which's Shropshire researcher they might have to go Wales to find a dentist.

John Woolmer moved to Shropshire a year ago. Since then, he told the BBC, he has not been able to find an NHS dentist. He decided to continue seeing his old dentist - a 300 mile round trip.

"I looked in the Yellow Pages to find a dentist, and they said we're not taking anyone on, whether they were NHS or private."

The government says the NHS Direct helpline should be able to give details of a dentist accepting NHS patients in England.

But out of 20 calls made by Health Which?, NHS Direct was only able to provide relevant details in seven.

In Bournemouth, the researcher was told to call Scoot (similar to Yellow Pages), which did not know which dentists took NHS patients.

The magazine also criticised the system under which NHS dentists can strike you off their list if you don't visit for 15 months.

Fees

Dentists say the bureaucracy working in the NHS brings, plus the lack of time with patients, deters them from working in the NHS.

Jo Tanner, of the British Dental Association, admitted: "The situation is far from perfect."

She added: "We want to see more incentives for dentists to come back from private practice into NHS dentistry to provide that level of care that is so required."

Ms Tanner welcomed the government's commitment to have invested �100m into NHS Dentistry by April next year.