Enid Wilkinson was one of those turned away from the queue

Retired school teacher Enid Wilkinson was among those who joined the line at Brynteg Dental Surgery in Carmarthen.

A year later she is still looking and health service watchdogs claim the situation has got worse.

But the Welsh Assembly Government says since last July it has provided money for 1,300 extra patients to register in Carmarthenshire.

I would say it has got worse in Carmarthenshire since the queue in Carmarthen Martin Morris

The Brynteg Surgery was only able to accept the first 300 of the people who queued in Carmarthen.

Mrs Wilkinson, of St Clears, said: "I went with a friend and we got there about 0830BST but there were already too many there and we got turned away.

"We are still looking - although I'm not really prepared to travel miles and miles because of the cost.

"My local dentist took me off the list because I had not been for 12 months because of my health."

She says she had looked at becoming a private patient but had been told she would have to pay �45 just to have her teeth cleaned.

"I still keep an eye out to see if there are any vacancies but there's been nothing so far," she added.

More than 600 people queued to get on a NHS dentist list at Carmarthen

Chief officer of the Llanelli Dinefwr Community Health Council, Martin Morris, said Carmarthenshire had lost three more NHS Dental practices in the past year.

"I would say it has got worse in Carmarthenshire since the queue in Carmarthen," he explained.

"NHS dentists are a very precious commodity.

"The situation is bad across the country and there's no real hope of an improvement in the short-term.

"Training more dentists is going to be a longer-term solution - we are looking at five, six or seven years down the line."

'Funding available'

Mr Morris said he had lost his NHS dentist earlier this year when his practice in Llanelli was one of two in the town to go private.

A separate surgery in Ammanford has also ceased taking NHS patients.

"We regularly get inquiries about NHS dentists but all we can do is ask them to phone NHS Direct," added Mr Morris.

He said when he telephoned to try and find a new dentist the nearest available place was Sennybridge in mid Wales - about 50 miles from his home.

In a statement an Assembly Government spokesperson said it was aware of the difficulties faced by patients in some parts of Wales, but the Welsh Dental Initiative had "made a difference".

"Since last July, Carmarthen Local Health Board have allocated a further six grants to practitioners in their area, five vocational training grants and one basic grant resulting in at least 1,300 patients being able to register with an NHS dentist," he said.

"We have made funding available to purchase access sessions from practitioners in order to assist local health boards meet the demand for dental treatment.

"There is still a lot of work that needs to be done.