There are no new NHS places for dental patients across north Wales

Dr Alan Barclay is switching his Ruabon and Cefn Mawr surgeries to private practice because of increasing pressures on himself and his staff.

There are 16 practices in the area but none are accepting new NHS patients.

Wrexham health board has said it had not received an official notice from Dr Barclay.

Dr Barclay claimed the board had not responded to his request for more flexible working arrangements under the personal dental services scheme.

Health officials said strenuous efforts were being made to attract more dentists to the area, with grants from the Welsh Assembly Government. Last month the assembly government announced an extra �5m aimed at keeping dentists in the Welsh NHS.

People are waking up to the fact that the NHS dental service is a shambles Councillor Stuart Davies

The funds was to for "personal dental schemes," like the one Dr Barclay said he was trying to arrange for his own practices.

The schemes would let dentists and local health boards introduce local contract arrangements.

Wrexham Local Health Board confirmed there are 37 dentists at 16 practices in the town.

Around 48% of Wrexham's 132,000 population are NHS registered with dentists, but none of the practices are accepting new NHS patients, a spokeswoman confirmed.

Denbighshire county councillor for Llangollen, Stuart Davies, condemned the news of the latest opt-out from the NHS.

"People are waking up to the fact that the NHS dental service is a shambles," said Mr Davies.

People queued in Llangollen last autumn for an NHS dentist

"A lot of people go to Ruabon and Cefn from here, so it's going to affect a lot of people around here."

He said the situation affected both the patients and the dentists, because they worked all the hours possible to see as many people as they could.

"A dental practice opened in Llangollen a couple of months ago, but they're full now and they've closed their books to new NHS patients."

The problems surrounding the lack of NHS dentists have led to huge queues all around Wales as patients try to find state care.

Around 100 people queued outside a Llangollen practice last September when it announced it was taking on NHS patients. In Carmarthen, some 600 would-be NHS patients queued in 2003.

A recent report produced for the Wrexham Health Board showed that nearly half of 12-year-olds having at least one rotting tooth.