It is alarming that a Bradford health expert has warned that children's dental health could suffer under the new NHS dental contracts which come into force on April 1.

In her new report, Julie Winterbottom, acting director of commissioning for North Bradford Primary Care Trust, spells out her fears that the work of orthodontists, who carry out corrective surgery, could be worst affected.

She has warned that all the district's practitioners are situated in the North Bradford and Airedale PCTs which leaves serious gaps elsewhere in the district.

The Bradford area already has a poor overall record of dental health, with the standard of children's teeth a particular cause of concern for some time.

Added to that mix is the fact that children who require specialist treatment, such as braces, face a two-and-a-half year wait at St Luke's Hospital.

The new NHS contracts have already caused uproar with patients having to re-register as private patients at some dental practices and those who are unregistered finding themselves unable to register at all.

It will take some considerable time before the full effects of the Government's divisive policies on NHS dentistry are fully understood but, in the meanwhile, it is to be hoped that the district's PCTs act with vigour to ensure that all problems with the contracts are identified and solved to protect the teeth of the next generation of Bradfordians.