SWINDON'S dental system has been branded a shambles' with nine practices withdrawing from providing NHS care.

This comes after a new Government dental contract was introduced overhauling the dental system.

An Advertiser investigation has found that there is now only one dentist in the town registering new adult NHS patients.

Out of Swindon's 33 dental practices, nine care for children on the NHS, 10 both children and adults, and 14 are now totally private.

But only four are accepting new child patients, and only Ambience Dental Practice, in Queen Street, is accepting new adult and child NHS patients.

Brendan Ball, of Brendan Ball Associates, in Freshbrook, has withdrawn from treating children on the NHS because the new system meant he would not have had enough funding. The practice will still be offering one free child check-up a year.

He said: "It is an utter shambles and I'm not surprised that so many people have withdrawn from the NHS. It is like the Government is forcing practices to go private.

"It is all about meeting targets and is not a preventative system at all so it won't do the patients any good in the long run as you can't measure how successful preventative care is.

"This is the beginning of the end for NHS dental care in Swindon.

"Of course there is going to be hardly anywhere for new NHS patients to go in the town, as the new contract does not take into account any new patients.

"It means each practice will only have the cash for their existing capacity. This is ridiculous in a town like Swindon which is meant to be expanding."

The new contract means that five dentists four from Eurodental, in Devizes Road, and one from the Swindon Dental Anaesthetic Clinic, in Prospect Place have found themselves without funding.

This is because the five did not work in a Swindon practice between October 2004 and September 2005 the period tested by the Department of Health to see how much dental funding the town needs a year under the new contract.

Pauline MacDonald, deputy director of primary care and community services commissioning at Swindon Primary Care Trust, said: "We are encouraged by the number of dentists who have signed the new contract and continue to provide NHS services to residents.

"If people need dentist care we have two dental access centres in Swindon where people who are not regular attendees with a NHS dentist can go for treatment the Swindon Health Centre 01793 428580 and West Swindon centre on 01793 889428.

MP's view

South Swindon Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, who is also a junior health minister, is in favour of the contracts.

She said: "All the money from the dentists who have withdrawn from the NHS goes back to the PCT so they can secure new NHS places.

"I will take up the case of any South Swindon resident who wants an NHS place and can't get one.

"The reforms give NHS patients more protection if dentists leave the NHS or reduce their commitment.

"Under the new arrangements PCTs will hold the budget, allowing them to plan for local needs and reallocate money to commission new services to patients if a dentist leaves the NHS.

"The new contract for dentists offered a salary of £80,000 a year, on average, for dentists. I believe this was a fair offer.

"Access to dental treatment has been a problem in Swindon for too long. I want to make sure that my constituents can get NHS dental treatment when they need it. I have had several discussions with the Minister and the local Primary Care Trust on this issue. There will be a new dental surgery opening later this year in Parks and Walcot."

What is the new contract?

From last Saturday, a new contract was introduced overhauling the NHS dental system.

Under the new system, dentists receive funding from Swindon Primary Care Trust according to how many NHS treatments they carried out during a test period between October 2004 and September 2005 this is called "units of dental activity."

Before this, the funding for dentistry was not capped as dentists would bill the PCT with whatever work they carried out.

During the test period, the Department of Health worked out that there were 200,000 units of dental activity a year in the town which equates to £6m.

This means, that the Government has given the PCT £4.2m.

As part of the new contract there will be several other changes, including revamping the price of treatments putting them into three bands.

This means that there will be a set charge for fillings whether a patient has nine in one session or just one.

Other changes include lengthening the time from six months to a year between routine check-ups.