A South Wales dental practice announced that they have places for 250 NHS patients.

The practice in Killay, South Wales, UK called Denticare which was due to open its doors at the end of February to more patients, already has around 7,500 people on its books. And they have had to relieve themselves of several existing patients because of missed appointments.

The practice manager at Denticare, Susan Morgan told local reporters: “From time to time we find our books get a bit slower.

“When you take patients on you find that they attend for a couple of years but they do not keep up their registration.

“We will have around 250 places going but depending on the response and how the books fill up we may have scope to take on 300.”

NHS dentists are legally entitled to strike off patients if they continually miss appointments.

One of the major problems though is the need to pay for dental care. While the NHS pays most of the cost, a small amount still has to be paid by a patient, unless in receipt of benefits. With money tight nowadays, oral and dental health care tends to take a back seat.

Susan Morgan said: “Some people cannot afford to come in at this time of year.”

The practice in Killay has been around for 5 years now, and is a mixture of private and NHS work. It also carries out cosmetic dentistry.