Patients in large parts of Devon are unable to find an NHS dentist

The government announced the move after concern was expressed about the shortage of dental care in the county.

Large swathes of Devon do not have a single dentist accepting new adult patients on the NHS.

The "growing crisis" was highlighted by MPs in a special House of Commons debate on Tuesday.

It's rather like the Middle Ages, going on a horse and cart right across the county to find a dentist Anthony Steen MP

Teignbridge's Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross said that in June last year 46% of people in Teignmouth Primary Trust were registered with an NHS dentist, compared to the national average of 48.6%.

He described it as "a disgrace" and "a sad reflection on the state of government policy" that by last month the figure in Teignmouth had fallen to 42.1%.

He said that since there were no NHS dentists accepting new patients in the Teignbridge PCT, patients were told to go to other areas such as Torquay, but there were none there either.

Anthony Steen, Conservative MP for Totnes, said the problem covered the whole of Devon.

"It's rather like the Middle Ages, going on a horse and cart right across the county to find a dentist."

Negotiating contract

Linda Gilroy, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton, said there were similar problems in her area and called for the NHS to recruit more dentists from abroad.

Health minister Rosie Winterton said the government was negotiating a new contract with the British Dental Association which she hoped would encourage more dentists to work with the NHS.

She said: "The fact is we have more dentists than ever before. The difficulty is that fewer of them are doing work for the NHS."

She said the NHS was also in discussions with authorities in Spain, Poland, Denmark and Germany to recruit more dentists from those countries.

"I can confirm Devon will be one of the first areas to get new recruits when they start to arrive later this year," she said.