A survey published last week showed that children in the Thames Valley have the worst teeth in the South East. Paul Leat investigates the state of National Health Service dental care available to children in Buckinghamshire.

NATIONAL Health Service (NHS) dental practices are becoming so rare in Britain that when a new surgery opens, it is headline news.

We have all seen the pictures of long queues of people desperate to get their name on the list and avoid the hefty charges of the more common private dental practices.

These queues are a sorry indictment of the state of British dental care, an issue once more thrust into the limelight following a report last week by the South East Public Health Observatory (SEPHO).

The findings of the survey into dental health among five-year-olds showed that children in Thames Valley have the highest number of decayed, missing or filled teeth in the south east region.

Although the report indicated that children's health is generally good, only two Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in the south east met Government targets for the proportion of children with tooth decay.

Alison Hill, director of SEPHO, said: "This is the biggest study into the state of young children's teeth in the south east in recent years and it provides valuable information. We are concerned by the poor record on dental health in some parts of the region and by the reversal in improvements."

However many PCTs feel their hands are tied, having to cope with far more patients than practices can manage.

Currently there are only seven NHS dental practices covering the Wycombe PCT area, with another seven assigned to the rest of south Bucks and the Chilterns.

A spokesman for the Chilterns and South Bucks PCT's claimed surgeries in the area were working hard to increase patient numbers and improve access to dental facilities.

One such surgery is the Millhouse Dental Centre in London Road, Loudwater, which has a patient list stretching to 4,000 names.

Carlos Clark, one of three dentists at the practice, is currently in negotiations with the Department of Health about increasing their patient allocation.

He said: "We are at our maximum but we have applied to take on an extra 800 patients. We have 4,000 at the minute and we could take the same number again there are that many patients out there and we would love to be able to take them."

The number of NHS dental surgeries is unlikely to change in the short-term, and the best advice for parents is to fight the problem at home.

A spokesman for the Chilterns and South Bucks PCT's said: "Reducing tooth decay in young children must start in the home. Parents are advised to encourage their children to brush their teeth twice a day and to limit food high in sugar and fizzy drinks. Both sugar and acid can be very damaging for teeth if consumed on a regular basis. Regular check-ups at the dentist are vital."

Kate Jones, a public health dentist and co-author of the SEPHO report, added: "Children should be registered with a dentist at an early age and have regular check-ups."

For information on NHS dentists in Chiltern and South Bucks contact the PCT's Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) free on 0800 328 5640.

Patients in the Wycombe area can call PALS free on 0800 783 8179