MORE than £330,000 will be ploughed into dentistry in Bradford in a pivotal victory for the Telegraph & Argus’s Stop the Rot campaign.

The investment of around £332,500 means that more than 3,500 new patients will be able to access NHS dental services in the Bradford South and East wards.

Dental practices are currently replying to letters from NHS England asking them if they would like to take on the extra work.

And NHS bosses estimate the new services should start to become available throughout May and June.

It comes after the launch of the T&A’s Stop the Rot campaign, which was mentioned in Parliament in March, plus continued pressure from Bradford South MP Judith Cummins since her election in 2015.

Mrs Cummins said: “It’s fantastic news that more money is coming to Bradford for dentistry. We know there are NHS dentists in Bradford who want to provide their services to more people and this will help them do just that.

“This is a real boost for the T&A’s Stop the Rot campaign, which has done an excellent job highlighting the crisis in dentistry and oral health in Bradford, particularly amongst children.

“Thousands more people being able to access NHS dental services will make a huge difference. We know there is no shortage of demand from the pilot programme that took place last year.”

However, she said there is still a "long way to go" and the fight to improve oral health in Bradford continues.

“The current dental contract is not fit for purpose – the dentists themselves say it is not working," she added.

"Rather than targets, prevention and patient care must be at the heart of any new dental contract, a case I will continue to make to Government ministers.

“The fight to improve oral health in Bradford goes on.”

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The Department of Health and Social Care has said new ways of providing NHS dental services are being tested.

Mick Armstrong, British Dental Association chair and an NHS dentist in Castleford, said: "Any new investment is welcome news given the scale of the crisis facing NHS dentistry in Bradford. However what patients in communities across England desperately require is a long-term commitment from Ministers to ensure they can access dental care when they need it.

"The authorities have shown they can listen when the public, practitioners, politicians and the press speak with one voice.

"The current NHS contract has put Government tick-boxes and targets ahead of patient need. This system is broken, and fixing it will need more than one-off payments or tinkering round the edges."

An NHS England spokesperson said: "Patients in 20 areas of the Yorkshire and the Humber region will benefit from increased availability to general dentistry. Over £4 million is being invested in the areas with the greatest need in order to increase the number of available dental appointments.

“The 20 areas were chosen based on the level of dental activity commissioned, which is lower than elsewhere in region, the levels of deprivation linked to the areas and the percentage of the population accessing a dentist.

“NHS England is committed to ensuring that all patients that wish to access NHS dental services can do so.”