The West Midlands needs to brace itself for a deepening crisis caused by the shortage of NHS dentists.

Tim Lee, founding partner of Birmingham Solicitors Young & Lee, is working with dentists throughout the country to try to resolve contractual conflicts that are resulting in patients chasing an ever-decreasing number of NHS dentists.

"It all stems from a decision to change the way in which dentists are paid by Primary Care Trusts. Some contracts based upon baselines which fall short of reality are resulting in some dentists being driven into bankruptcy and others being forced to leave the NHS," said Tim Lee.

The Government’s own figures show at least two million people throughout the country are unable to get treatment from an NHS dentist.

"In the West Midlands where there is a strong tradition of NHS dentistry the situation is particularly serious. Inevitably, it is worse in poorer areas where people simply cannot afford the cost of private treatment.

"Dentistry is a hard profession to get into, it is a highly stressful job with a suicide rate twice the national average for other professions and the pay is not nearly as high as is commonly believed.

"It is not the sexy end of the medical profession and so gets treated as a Cinderella service. The change in the way in which dentists are paid moving away from a piecework system to one in which a sum is agreed for a fixed number of units of work has not worked well.

"There is also evidence that it is resulting in cheaper methods of treatment using less expensive materials. False teeth are coming back simply because they are cheaper than dental implants. Some dental laboratories have seen a 50 per cent reduction in implant work," added Tim Lee.

He said inconsistency in the way different Primary Care Trusts agree contracts with their NHS dentists is also creating a postcode lottery in the quality of care available.

"Unless matters are addressed before phase two of the new contracts come into play next year a bad situation will only get worse," concludes Tim Lee.