HUNDREDS of North Yorkshire dental patients have had their treatment delayed for months because of restrictions imposed by cash-strapped health bosses.

Even more will continue to face delays to surgery such as wisdom tooth extraction and orthodontic treatment after it emerged that limitations imposed by North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) are being continued.

Now, orthodontic consultants at York Hospital have fired a stinging letter to PCT bosses protesting at the move - saying they believe patients' dental health could be severely affected.

The letter states: "Several cases have been brought to our attention by local general dental practitioners where referral to the hospital orthodontic department has been denied.

"We have seen specific cases for which delays in assessment could prove significant in terms of the patient's dental health."

According to consultants, one patient had to wait more than two months to get a response from the PCT after being referred for treatment.

In March, we reported how the PCT was stopping dentists referring patients directly to hospital for oral surgery and orthodontic treatments - which includes treating cleft lips and palates.

They insisted that all patients should instead be referred to a panel for exceptional cases - a system which The Press has campaigned against and attracted more than 2,000 signatures from readers.

York Hospital orthodontists are now calling on the PCT to scrap its dental exceptions panel.

The PCT said in March it was conducting a review of oral surgery and orthodontics, which was scheduled to last for three months.

But it has now emerged the restrictive system is still continuing and no date has been set for it to end.

John Renshaw, former chairman of the British Dental Association who runs a private practice in Scarborough, said: "It's beginning to cause us a lot of grief. The patients are finding themselves with absolutely legitimate referrals with real problems and the PCT is just sending them back."

Patients being delayed included children sent for an assessment for orthodontic problems, and one woman who could not get her wisdom teeth seen to despite the fact they had caused her face to swell up.

A spokesman for the PCT said it had assessed 825 dental patients since beginning the review.

Of these, 513 had been granted a hospital referral, and 312 had not.

He said: "The referrals are clinically assessed by an oral surgeon to see whether they would be best served by primary care, secondary care or specialist dental services.

"The exceptions panel is used should a dentist feel that there is exceptional need for a patient to receive a particular type of care other than that decided through the initial assessment process, or if additional information about the case becomes available.

"The review of the system is on-going; there is no indication of when this will be complete at this stage."


Restrictions concern

YORK Hospital orthodontists who wrote the letter to PCT bosses are the latest in a string of consultants to hit out over cuts to the local NHS.

Dr Peter Hall, a specialist in anaesthesia and pain at the hospital, has spoken out about restrictions to injection treatments used for patients suffering from crippling back pain.

He said the PCT's policy to limit injections would mean not all patients would get the same care. And while pain was invisible, it had the power to completely devastate a person's life. In April, we reported how a York consultant feared a "seismic change" in local health care because of health cuts.

His fears included the lack of contingency plans in place for when the hospital was full - with plans to reduce the number of emergency patients there by thousands. In May, York consultant orthodontist Jay Kindelan hit out for the first time over PCT restrictions to dental services - saying 400 people would lose out on orthodontic treatment this year.