Thousands of people in Brighton and Hove are putting their oral health at risk by not having their teeth examined by a dentist .
According to a report to the city's health watchdog, the number of residents booking an appointment with a dentist has fallen by almost 7,000 since the introduction of the current dental contract in 2006.
The report reveals that more than 148,000 people had their teeth checked in the two years up to September, compared to the 154,000-plus that saw a dentist in the two years to March 2006, when the old dental contract was replaced by the present, controversial system.
The current contract puts Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in charge of commissioning local services, with the aim of giving local NHS authorities the power to provide dentists in places where it was hard to get an appointment.
However, many dentists left the NHS and went private as they were unhappy with the switch from payment per course of treatment to an annual income for a predetermined amount of dental treatment .




