Dental surgery ‘short of patients’

Posted by Allie Wright

Patients are being urged to come forward for treatment at an NHS dental surgery in Worthing that has plenty of appointment slots available.

According to Dr Amit Rai, principal dentist at Tooth Booth in Broadwater Boulevard, the waiting room of the facility is empty a lot of the time, reports the Worthing Herald.

He pointed out a lot of people complain about a lack of NHS dentists, but they are providing a service that is not being taken advantage of by local residents.

Dr Rai added: “If we don’t fulfil the contract, we are going to have to give that money back to the government and that is money that should be used for patient care.”

Tooth Booth could cater for as many as 6,000 patients, which is six times the number it has signed up at the moment.

Professor David Bartlett, head of prosthodontics at King’s College London Dental Institute, recently told the Daily Mail that a pain-free dentist drill being developed at the University of Missouri sounds like a good idea.