THE future for NHS dentistry in York looks "stable" - according to a leading North Yorkshire dentist who has just announced he is going private.

Former British Dental Association chairman Dr John Renshaw has said his Scarborough practice will leave the National Health Service this April, during a growing row over a new contracting system that has angered many in the profession.

Dr Renshaw said he would also be leaving his job as dental advisor to the Selby and York Primary Care Trust (PCT) at the end of March.

The move is a further blow to the future of NHS dentistry in the county, with Dr Renshaw's practice the latest of several to announce it is going private.

But Dr Renshaw said the picture for NHS dentistry in York was looking "stable".

"I think the York situation is fairly stable. There are far, far worse places than York," he said.

"The (Selby and York) PCT has made really quite impressive strides in trying to sort the problem out.

"When you look at the amount of trouble the PCT is in, it is to its credit that it has made as much effort as it has."

This April, British dentistry is facing its biggest shake-up in nearly 15 years as contracts devolve from the Department of Health to primary care trusts (PCTs).

The changes mean dentists will be paid a salary for their work, rather than being given separate fees for each bit of treatment they perform.

But Dr Renshaw said many in the profession were leaving the NHS because of new constraints on the way children were treated.

He said that under the current system, dentists can choose which patients they treat on the NHS - with some taking on only children on the national health while treating adults privately.

But when the rules change in April, it will be up to PCTs to agree whether dentists can still operate this system - and many were insisting dentists should take all their patients on the NHS.

Furthermore, practitioners would not be not allowed to only take children as NHS patients in April if they currently treated all their patients on the national health.

Rather than be dictated to in this way, some dentists have preferred to leave the service altogether.

"I think the issue with children is the reason a lot of dentists are going," said Dr Renshaw.

"I'm sure it's meant to improve access for children, but actually what it's going to do is reduce access for children."

Selby and York PCT has said the new dental system will bring better security for patients because the trust will be able to commission new services if dentists leave the NHS.

The trust is to deliver nearly 10,000 new dental places in the region.

Updated: 09:26 Wednesday, February 15, 2006