DURING the last few months there have been several references to the shortage of National Health Service Dentists in the York area.

Last week there was a report on the deplorable state of children's teeth in many parts of the country. School children in North Yorkshire used to have an annual inspection, but the one-time leading School Dental Service has disappeared.

It is obvious that we need to increase the number of dentists working in the area. Dentists and doctors tend to remain in the area of the dental and medical schools where they trained. Looking at the Dental Register one finds that most dentists practising in Leeds are Leeds-qualified.

The problem in the York area could be considerably eased if the new Hull-York medical school opened a dental school. There is a limit to the number of patients able to pay for private dental care and, with a larger dental population, there should be more dentists willing to treat NHS patients.

We need a dental school here in York to increase our dental population. It would be advantageous if the school also trained dental therapists who can now treat adult patients.

Much of the simpler filling treatment can be carried out by these practitioners whose training period is considerably shorter than that of dentists.

Dr Graham Turner,

Falcon Close,

Haxby, York.

Updated: 09:42 Thursday, September 08, 2005