A YORK MP has called for a dental school to be created in the city to help tackle long waits to see a dentist.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said in a debate at Westminster that it can take up to five years to get to see a dentist in York.

She said there were currently no dental practices seeing new patients and out of 39 practices, only one was accepting new NHS patients to a waiting list that already had 2,000 people on it.

She said:“The situation now for people needing dental treatment is critical. I am really concerned about the future if there are no changes, and the impact this could also have on children in York, as many simply aren’t getting to see a dentist.

“More people are being forced to ‘go private’ as there are no alternatives, and the costs are really high, with consequences such as dental problems being left to get worse, or in extreme cases, people extracting their own teeth.

“It is an absolute scandal that we have been allowed to get to this point.

“York urgently needs a dental school to train the next generation of NHS dentists, I will be working tirelessly in Parliament to achieve this."