NEW figures have revealed the number of people across the Bradford district who have never tried to book themselves an appointment with an NHS dentist, as they increasingly prefer to go private.

The British Dental Association (BDA) said people are being pushed towards private practices by lack of finances in the NHS and restrictions on the services they can offer.

Of the 2,097 people in the Bradford City Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who responded to this year’s GP Patient Survey – conducted between January and March – 28 per cent said that they had never tried to book an appointment with an NHS dentist.

That’s an increase of two per cent from five years ago.

And of the 4,080 people in the Bradford Districts CCG who responded to the survey, 21 per cent said that they had never tried to book an appointment with an NHS dentist, a jump of four per cent from five years ago.

For the Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG the figure stands at 23 per cent - a rise of one per cent in five years.

Mick Armstrong,the chairman of the BDA, said that there are several reasons why people may have chosen not to access NHS dentistry.

He said: “Socio-economic factors will play a part.

"The more affluent may choose to see a dentist privately because it may be quicker to see a dentist and because of the perception of ‘bespoke’ care, because of the wider choice of dental materials available, and access to services which are not available on the NHS.

“In other instances, they may choose this route because of restrictions placed on NHS services, for example orthodontics, or treatments rarely available such as implantology.”

This year's survey revealed that 11 per cent of patients in the Bradford City CCG had not tried to book to see their NHS dentist in the last two years, 15 per cent in the Bradford Districts CCG and 14 per cent in the Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG.

The BDA said that the NHS budget is only sufficient to cover care for half of the English population, which is fuelling growing access problems. These factors could influence patients who do attempt to access care.

However, 81 per cent of patients in the Bradford City CCG who did try to book an appointment were successful and 76 per cent of patients rated their dentist as either very good or fairly good.

In the Bradford Districts CCG, 89 per cent of patients were successful, with 80 per cent of patients rating their dentist as very good or fairly good.

And 93 per cent of patients in the Airedale, Wharfedale and Craven CCG were successful, with 83 per cent of patients rating their dentist as either very good or fairly good.