Aria Van Drie has already left the practice

Investigations are taking place into whether Irene Tsanidou from Greece has been practising illegally.

The General Dental Council has now confirmed that Ms Tsanidou was not registered to practice in the UK.

Her colleague Aria Van Drie left the practice following reports she has a criminal conviction in Holland.

Confidence undermined

The surgery in New Queen Street is now closed and the strategic health authority which covers the Scarborough area has announced a review into how attempts to bring NHS dentistry to the resort failed.

A spokeswoman for the authority said a small management team had been formed which hoped to complete its work during April .

The authority's chief executive David Johnson said: "Recent events in Scarborough have raised a number of issues.

"It is clear that we need to have a detailed understanding of these to restore public confidence and identify lessons for the future."

A General Dental Council statement said: "Reports in the media led the Council to suspect that Ms Tsanidou might be practising dentistry at the New Queen Street surgery.

"We immediately informed North Yorkshire Family Health Services that Ms Tsanidou is not and has not been registered with us.

"We have been assured that Ms Tsanidou is not currently practising at the New Queen Street surgery."