The British Dental Association said while hospitals and GPs had largely solved access problems, the issue was still dogging dentistry in England. A report by the union said there was so little information available on local people that they did not know who they needed to focus their efforts on.
NHS dentistry has been a long-running problem for the government. Ministers sought to improve access by introducing a new contract in 2006 to entice more dentists into NHS work - unlike GPs they have significant portfolios of private patients.
But it made little impact. In fact, in the two years immediately following the start of the new system 1m fewer patients saw an NHS dentist. The government has already agreed to another reform of the system after commissioning a review of dentistry by independent experts.
