THE North Yorkshire Health Authority is to consider pumping more cash into dental practices, to entice them into taking on more new and unregistered patients.

In line with a Government pledge on dental care, the authority is trying to improve access to NHS dental care, even for people who are not registered with dentists.

But the plans, set for discussion later this month, have been regarded with suspicion by the British Dental Association, which believes that far more cash is needed before any strategy will work.

According to a report set to go before the health authority on July 16, patients in the Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale Primary Care Group area have the most difficulty in accessing NHS dentistry.

In that area, only 24 per cent of dental practices accept new NHS patients, with the remaining 76 per cent either not accepting them, or putting them on a waiting list of eight weeks or more.

In the York and Selby area, only 56 per cent of dentists are accepting new patients, while 73 per cent accept new patients in the Harrogate area, and 75 per cent in Hambleton.

Many dental practices say their waiting lists would not allow them to meet the target time of 24 hours for urgent treatment for unregistered patients.

The authority estimates it will need to inject about £180,000 to entice more dentists, including private practitioners, into taking on new or unregistered patients.

But Scarborough dentist Dr John Renshaw, who is chairman of the British Dental Association, said that figure was too small to make the kind of difference which everyone wants.

"The authority hasn't found enough money to make a comprehensive service available," he added.

"About £20m is actually being spent on dental services across the county; this figure is less than one per cent of that.

"Can we honestly imagine overworked dentists wanting to take on extra patients for the sake of a few more quid?

"People think dentists who leave the NHS to go private are doing it for the money; in fact, by and large, it's not much more money at all. What they want to get away from is the huge workload."

Updated: 12:08 Tuesday, July 10, 2001