There's something rotten in the state of the dental service in Britain today, with more and more people finding they simply cannot get treatment on the NHS and people feeling they have to resort to extreme measures, such as our story this week of the woman who had a friend remove a painful tooth with pliers.

Now it appears that children in Bradford are to miss out on a specialist service aimed at slashing waiting lists for braces and other orthodontic work because of a, frankly unbelievable, financial wrangle.

Children up to the age of 18 are waiting up to two-and-a-half years for an appointment at St Luke's Hospital.

Orthodontic specialist Shandeep Sharma has opened in Saltaire only the second clinic in Bradford offering to take young patients off the hospital waiting list and treat them more quickly.

Because his is a new practice, and funds are allocated based on previous treatment levels, Mr Sharma has been told that he is not allowed money to enable him to treat more children on the NHS.

It is outrageous that children are having to wait so long for orthodontic treatment in the first place, and yet more bizarre that those who wish to better this situation are being strangled by red tape.

With more dentists in the area feared to be abandoning NHS patients as new contracts come in next month, it is time someone in Government took a long, hard look at dental services in this country.