PEOPLE in Bournemouth and Poole have been assured they have no need to resort to do-it-yourself dentistry, as there are still local NHS practices with spare capacity.

Dentist Alastair Danby, adviser to Bournemouth and Poole Primary Care Trust, spoke out after a national survey revealed that large numbers of people are going without treatment or performing their own because they cannot find an NHS dentist in their area.

Some admitted to pulling out their own teeth with pliers, filling them with Polyfilla and fixing on crowns with Superglue.

But Mr Danby, who has been practising for 20 years in the area, said: "These stories have always been about. Access in Bournemouth and Poole is really quite good. There's a choice and there's access to urgent treatment.

"When the government had extra funding (for dentistry), our primary care trust applied for the money and other areas didn't. Access is almost the best I can remember it being. There's been quite a dramatic improvement."

The Dentistry Watch poll of 5,000 people found more than three-quarters of those who had gone private felt they had been forced into it because they could not find an NHS dentist locally.

Almost half the patients said they did not understand the new charging system, which has just three price bands - £15.90 for a basic examination and x-rays; £43.60 for treatment such as fillings; and £194 for construction work such as crowns.

A fifth of NHS dental patients in the survey claimed they had gone without treatment because they could not afford the cost.

Some dentists claim that there is no incentive to take on patients who need complex work.

The government is now meeting representatives of the profession to see if the contract needs to be changed.

The Department of Health revealed in August that 50,000 fewer people were attending NHS dentists since the new contract began.