Patients who cannot register with an NHS dentist

Manchester's University Dental Hospital says patients queue daily for its emergency clinic.

The trust, which sees around 35 patients each day, is planning to extend the service to cope with demand from patients.

It comes as a snapshot survey suggested 88% of dentists have completely closed their lists to new NHS patients.

Dentists have been campaigning long and hard so that patients who want to can access NHS dental care Dr Lester Ellman, British Dental Association

A spokeswoman for Manchester's University Dental Hospital said: "In the last 12 months the dental hospital has seen a gradual increase in the number of patients attending for emergency appointments."

She said it was unlikely the situation would change. "Unless there is NHS dental provision elsewhere, it's going to carry on."

Manchester dentist Lance Price has 2,500 people on his list, and has had to close his books to NHS patients.

He told the BBC: Unfortunately, they've just got to ring around and try to find another NHS dentist, or there is the option of going private.

"There are a lot of dentists in the city who are still private dentists, so they will always be able to find a dentist, but they may have to pay more for it."

It is estimated that around half the population in England currently do not have access to an NHS dentist.

A snapshot survey carried out by the Daily Mail newspaper of 155 practices in Hampshire, South Leeds, Bath and East Somerset, Solihull and Swindon, found 88% had completely closed their books to NHS patients.

Ten who said they would not take on new adult NHS patients said they would offer children NHS care, if their parents paid to go privately.

Last month, the government pledged to recruit an extra 1,000 dentists by October 2005, and to increase training places by 25%.

Dr Lester Ellman, chair of the British Dental Association's General Dental Practice Committee, said: "Dentists have been campaigning long and hard so that patients who want to can access NHS dental care.

"A shortage of dentists is part of the problem and it looks as if the government has at last listened to the BDA's longstanding demands for a 25% increase in the number of dentists trained in the UK.

"But the positive effect of this increase will not start to be felt until the end of the decade. The Department of Health's own figures show that in England alone there is a shortage of 1,850 dentists."

Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: "It is a scandal that people are having to go to their local hospital for dental treatment.

"This is a sad sign of people's desperation and is a result of the Government not offering the dental service that people have a right to expect."

Compensation claims

In a separate development, the government is proposing all dentists must have insurance to protect themselves and their patients, should something go wrong.

Currently, many have "discretionary assistance", under which insurers may or may not pay out in the event of a claim.

You would not insure your car on a discretionary basis Dr Michael Saunders, Defence Union

But under the proposals, contained in a consultation document published on Monday, dentists would not be able to register with the General Dental Council unless they were insured. Dentists cannot practise unless they are registered.

The Department of Health said the plans would mean if patients applied for compensation when something went wrong, they would have more certainty that the individual practitioner would have the funds to be able to provide the compensation.

The Dental Defence Union welcomed the proposals. Dr Michael Saunders, Chief Executive of the Medical Defence Union, the DDU's parent organisation, said: "In a climate that has seen a rapid rise in the number of claims over the last few years, it is a concern that not all dentists have clinical negligence insurance.

"We have long called for regulation of the clinical indemnity market so that dentists and their patients are better protected and we strongly support this proposal. "

Dr Saunders, continued: "You would not insure your car on a discretionary basis, nor would the government allow you to find out, only after an accident, whether your indemnifier would pay up.