Dentists are becoming more likely to remove their patients' teeth than fit fillings or crowns, figures revealed today.

Campaigners say the statistics show that a botched contract for dentists is discouraging them from saving teeth with treatment by making it easier and more cost-effective to pull out the tooth.

The number of NHS patients who had teeth removed and were given dentures has shot up since the contract was introduced in 2006, while the number of crowns and fillings has dropped.

The figures, released by the NHS Information Centre, also show more than a million people have lost access to their NHS dentist in the last two years.

Of all the dental treatments carried out in England in 2007/08, 47.9 per cent included false teeth being given to patients, up from 38.1 per cent in 2003/04.

The proportion of treatments including tooth extraction rose from 6.9 per cent to 7.9 per cent.

The percentage of treatments which involved fitting crowns fell from 47.8 per cent to 35.3 per cent and the percentage including fillings dropped from 28.3 per cent to 26 per cent.

Instead of being paid for every procedure they carry out, dentists are now paid for a "unit of dental activity".

Retired dentist Edgar Gordon, a founder member of the Faculty of General Dental Practice, says the system is a crude measure of cost.

He said: "It is now easier and quicker and cheaper to take a tooth out. You can take 20 teeth out in the time it takes you to make a crown.

"Dentists want a lot of patients requiring minimal treatment. It is a crappy system and dentists and the public have been conned." Shadow health minister Mike Penning added: "Since Labour introduced its botched, untested new contract, well over a million people - more than the entire population of Birmingham - have lost access to their NHS dentist. Despite Labour's claims, the decline is continuing."

The figures also show 655 more dentists are working in the NHS than last year. Chief Dental Officer Dr Barry Cockcroft said this proves the 2006 reforms have put the dental service on the "road to recovery" and Britain's oral health is continuing.

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