PATIENTS may struggle to find an NHS dentist in other parts of the country, but in Worcester it is dentists who are short of NHS patients.

Seven million people have been unable to see an NHS dentist for the last two years, according to the Citizen's Advice Bureau, but anyone with toothache in Worcester will certainly not have to squeeze into a packed waiting room.

Oasis Dental Care in St Mary's Street in Worcester city centre and its counterpart in Pershore High Street are operating at nearly half capacity following their opening last May.

The Worcester practice has space for 10,000 patients but only has 5,500 patients on its books - there is room for about 4,500 more dental patients. The Pershore branch has capacity for about 7,000 patients but so far has only 3,500 on its books.

Both branches are due to take on a new dentist in March but Oasis has to advertise for patients.

Alan McMichael, consultant for dental public health for Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, said: "People may think the situation is worse than it is. If you stop 100 people in Worcester they may say you can't get an NHS dentist in the city. But how many of them have put it to the test? They may have been told for so long the can't get an NHS dentist that they repeat it without thinking.

"But in Worcester we may have over-estimated the demand for practices like Oasis because they were saying where are all the patients?' They were quite worried they were going to undershoot their target because their patients weren't coming."

However, the situation is not the same in other parts of the county. More than half the dentists in Worcester-shire stopped providing NHS dental care after they refused to sign new contracts which would have paid them per patient rather than for work carried out.

Nationally, up to 1,000 dentists have already left the NHS and 266,000 fewer patients are receiving NHS treatment since the contract was introduced, says the British Dental Association.

Tim Westwood, Worcester-shire Local Medical Comm-ittee secretary, said there was still not enough cash set aside for preventative dentistry about issues like correct brushing and dietary advice in the new NHS contract.

Richard Burt, the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for West Worcest-ershire, conducted a survey which attracted nearly 4,000 responses. It revealed 85 per cent of people had been to see a local dentist within the last 12 months and 69 per cent said they were registered for NHS treatment, suggesting not everywhere in the UK is as well-served as Worcester.