YOU asked for readers' views relating to dental services. I would be delighted to take this chance to give my comments because my recent dealings with this aspect of the health service has left me very annoyed.

As a 77-year-old woman, who has made National Insurance contributions for the whole of my working life, I telephoned my dentist to arrange an appointment for a new set of dentures.

I was told that because I hadn't visited the surgery in the previous six months, my name had been removed from their register.

I had received no warning that this would happen and was utterly appalled - how often do you have to go to a dentist when you have false teeth?

In the same month, my daughter broke her front tooth. The next available NHS appointment she has been offered is for April - at a dentist in Bishopthorpe. Being a very obvious front tooth, this has greatly affected her self esteem.

My granddaughter, who has two small children and lives in Osbaldwick, was told that she would have to travel to Scarborough to register with an NHS dentist and has therefore had to pay to go private - an expense she cannot and should not have to pay.

Yet, family friends in Bridlington are being booked in at an Acomb surgery.

I find it unbelievable that in our city, the NHS service is so inadequate. What would Joseph Rowntree say if he were alive today?

Mrs Betty Wetton,

Tennent Road,

Acomb, York.

Updated: 10:06 Monday, February 16, 2004