Dental system in crisis as one in six Britons can't afford a check-up

The soaring cost of dental treatment has been blamed for millions of Britons having teeth in shockingly poor state, a new report has found. More than 11million adults have not seen a dentist over the past two years because they could not afford to have a check-up.

Almost eight million patients admitted they refused a recommended course of action from their dentist because, once again, it was too expensive.

The research from Dentale, a new dental clinic, could explain the surveys other shocking findings. It reported that more than half of British adults have at least one tooth missing and five million claim they have lost more than five.

One in five people in Scotland and the Midlands rated their teeth as being in a poor or very poor condition - the worst results in the UK.

Almost half of the adult population do not have access to an NHS dentist. In January the British Dental Association revealed more than 1,000 dentists had stopped providing NHS care since the introduction of the controversial new contract in 2006.

The NHS dental system is letting down hundreds of thousands of patients. Many are forced to go private because they can't find a local NHS dentist. Some are resorting to DIY using pliers and other makeshift apparatus and materials. Before New Labour, NHS dentistry was a universal, affordable, service to which people were entitled as citizens and taxpayers. .….