HUNDREDS of thousands of people are being forced to pay for their dental care by a lack of NHS dentists - but insurance could save them hundreds of pounds a year.

More than 2m people who wish to access NHS dental care are unable to do so, according to government figures out last week. Between July and September, 78% of private patients said they abandoned the NHS because either their dentist stopped treating NHS patients or because they could not find another one who would.

Some patients have reportedly even resorted to pulling out their own teeth because of the crisis.

Going private without insurance can be expensive. According to the consumer website www.whatprice.co.uk, a private dentist is likely to charge you around £80 for each small filling, while root-canal work could cost around £342. A simple checkup can cost £40. This compares with £43.60 for a filling and root-canal work on the NHS.

However, there are dental-insurance plans which can be bought for as little as £6 a month and give you access to both NHS and private dentists. They may be able to get you into a dentist who is no longer taking new NHS patients but is still accepting private work.

Dental-only insurance plans are available from firms such as Boots, Universal Provident, HSA and Western Provident Association. Dental cover is included in medical-cash plans from HSA, BUPA, Cardiff Pinnacle, Axa PPP, Westfield and Medicash.

It is important to check the limitations of your policy. For example, the Universal Provident scheme seems attractive since the cost for a single person or single parent is £5.95 a month or £11.60 for a family. However, very tight terms mean no preexisting condition is covered in the first two years, so no replacement fillings. What’s more, the maximum payout is £125 per tooth and you can only claim for work on a maximum of two teeth a year. Cosmetic treatments such as teeth whitening are not covered.

Also, depending on which scheme you choose, you usually have to enrol three to six months prior to using the plan.

A good alternative is the Hospital Saturday Fund (HSF) dental cover. This covers both optical and dental treatments and costs as little as £1 a week.

It will cover up to 50% of your dental costs, up to a maximum of £50 a year. If you think you will only need a check up in any given year, this is probably a good option.

If you think you’ll need more treatments, a plan costing £6 a week will cover 100% of your costs up to a maximum of £400. The top level of cover costing £12 a week pays a maximum of £850 a year.

HSF cover allows you to include all your children up to the age of 18 without any additional cost. It also covers cosmetic treatments such as teeth whitening, as well as optical tests and other medical conditions.

Another option is to go for a capitation plan. Your dentist decides how much you should pay based on what treatment he believes you will need over the coming year.

“This is only worthwhile if you have decent teeth, as the worse your teeth are, the more the monthly cost will be,” said Paul Schofield of comparison firm Moneysupermarket.

Some dentists will offer their own version of these schemes while others are linked to specific providers.

Providers such as Denplan (www.denplan.co.uk) will help you find dentists in your area offering the scheme.

It is worth noting that most dental plans are not true insurance-based products and therefore not regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Another alternative is to go abroad. Dublin-based Reva Health Network - a medical-tourism website - said more than 35,000 British citizens travelled abroad for dental treatments last year. The most popular destinations are Hungary and Poland where the cost is 50%-70% lower than in Britain.

“With low-cost air travel, this is a better option for many,” said a Reva Health spokesman.

He also dismissed the idea that dentists abroad have lower standards.

“Dentists from Hungary and Poland have been treating western European patients for over 30 years. They have some of the top standards in dental care in the whole of Europe.”

In England and Wales, there are three bands of NHS charges.

Band one treatments, which cost £15.90, cover routine examinations, simple scaling, treatment for sensitive teeth and removal of fractured crowns.

Band two covers chronic care, fillings, root-canal work, extractions, restorations and temporary bridges and costs £43.60.

Band three includes veneers, inlays, crowns, bridgework and dentures with a charge of £194.

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