A NEW NHS dental practice is to be established at Honiton Community Hospital as part of an initiative that will see an extra 2,000 people in the town allocated a dentist.

A NEW NHS dental practice is to be established at Honiton Community Hospital as part of an initiative that will see an extra 2,000 people in the town allocated a dentist.

Devon Primary Care Trust is using money provided by central government to extend NHS dental services across the county.

An existing dental practice in Honiton will also form part of the initiative. It has agreed to take on more NHS patients.

Andrew Harris, head of primary care for NHS Devon, told the Herald it was difficult to estimate how many people in Honiton are currently not registered with a dentist.

The health service has no way of knowing how many people are accessing private dental care or being seen by an NHS dentist closer to where they work.

"There has been a long-standing problem with access to dentistry, particularly in the southern part of Britain," he said. "Certainly, Devon has suffered as much as other places.

"However, access to NHS dentistry has increased by 26,000 since March 2006. With the new arrangements, we are confident of providing another 43,000 places and 2,000 of them will be in Honiton."

Mr Harris revealed the new practice will open shortly, but urged people not to contact the hospital directly to register.

A helpline number for registrations is printed below.

NHS Devon has been able to provide the extra places thanks to an increase in cash being given to NHS dentistry services across the country.

"It's due to extra investment from the government," said Mr Harris.

If you want to register with a dentist in Honiton, call the Devon Dental Helpline on 0845 002 0034.