NHS dentistry - teeth-grindingly bad

The other day one of my teeth broke. It's not been hugely painful, but it does make it rather difficult to eat ice cream or drink tea, so it's a problem I need to fix.

So this morning I rang my dentist. Or, rather, I thought I did.

It turns out that because I've not needed to see the dentist for the past two years (that's a good thing, surely) then they've dropped me off their NHS list. They are not currently 'accepting' NHS patients, so I cannot re-register at that dental practice.

My choices? To register as a private patient ("oh yes, we're taking on private patients, when would you like to be seen?") or to find a different NHS dentist that covers my area, via NHS Direct.

There aren't any NHS dentists in South Wigston. The nearest ones are in Wigston, or in Leicester city itself. The one which is closest to me say they are not currently taking on NHS patients ("but you are welcome to register as a private patient"), and the one that is actually convenient to local bus services say the same. In fact, all five NHS dentists which are within a reasonable distance of where we live say they cannot take us on. So after an hour of trying, I've got no dentist but a much larger phone bill.

One of the dentists said that because I needed treatment urgently, I should ring the Dental Access Centre, which is run by the Primary Care Trust. I rang them, but they said that they can only treat people who are in continual pain. They advised that I ring round every dentist in Leicestershire - "there will be some that are accepting patients" - but that I should lie to them about my tooth: "They won't take you on if they know you need treatment. Tell them you just want a check up and they'll give you an appointment in five or six weeks." I pointed out that I couldn't eat or drink hot or cold things, and the receptionist helpfully suggested I could "use the other side of your mouth". For six weeks?

Also, the first time I went to my old dentist I had a full set of dental X-rays. I had to pay for them, I remember, but I suspect that, as an NHS patient, the price was discounted at least a little by the NHS. So I was concerned at the idea that now I needed treatment it would have to be somewhere they didn't have my dental records.

"Don't worry about that," the receptionist told me, "we don't pass your records on anyway. It's not like a doctor's medical records which get passed on. Each dentist you register with will just start again from scratch." I suppose there may be some really good reason why my four year old X-rays would be no use to my new dentist, but this seems to me to be an outrageous waste of NHS resources - and a massively missed opportunity. How can you audit NHS dentistry if you don't track the care received by individual patients from one dental practice to another. If all my fillings fall out next year, the new dentist will have no way of knowing who put them in, or why, or when.