Following research by Alastair Mitton Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Ealing Central and Acton the constituency has been found to be woefully short of NHS dentistry for new applicants.

Just 11% of all the dentists surveyed said they were accepting new NHS patients and only 36% of those dentists who hold NHS contracts. Two thirds of the dental practices were exclusively private this high figure directly discriminates against those on lower incomes and increases the risks to children. Already tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions in young children and today's figures raise fears that this will only get worse.

Liberal Democrat Alastair Mitton said: "This local research, which involved calling every dental practice in the constituency and on the borders proves that we urgently need to increase funding to the sector and to reform the NHS dental contract to ensure that it encourages dentists to take on new NHS patients. Liberal Democrats say we also need to urgently increase the number of dentist training places and continue to recognise EU trained dentists' qualifications."

Alastair Mitton added: "Everyone should be able to access an NHS dentist when they need one, no one should be forced to face an impossible choice between paying hundreds of pounds for private care or going without treatment and enduring unbelievable agony. This Conservative government has utterly failed to get on top of the problem despite an estimated 3,000 dentists stopping NHS work in the last 3 years."