The scale of the dentist crisis hitting Wales has been exposed after it was revealed there are no dental surgeries taking new NHS patients in its largest county.
The Welsh Conservatives sent a Freedom of Information request to Powys Teaching Health Board asking for the number of dental practices in the area accepting adult and child NHS patients.
In both cases, the health board said: “Practices are currently taking new patients off their own waiting lists, [but] there is no immediate access to any dental practice”.
There are 26 dental practices in the health board area, 20 of them being contracted GDS (General Dental Services) practices and six are health board-run Community Dental Practices, two of which also offer GDS.
James Evans MS said" It is sad to see our region has been neglected by the Labour Government and this is having devastating consequences. It is appalling that none of our 26 dental surgeries in Powys are taking on new, local NHS patients. I am calling on Welsh Government to drastically increase spending on NHS dentistry"
