Inhabitants of town in East Yorkshire have been to seek treatment miles away or abroad after dental practice closes.
The closure of Bupa dental care in Bridlington has forced to cross the country to get NHS treatments.
Speaking to BBC news on the closure, local resident Pat Reynolds explained she must now make a 160-mile round trip to Leeds. She said, “We are looking at probably two hours' driving for maybe a 20-minute appointment and then the same coming back. It's a full day by the time we're done."
Following the closure, only three dental practices will operate in Bridlington.
David Moore, a former Bupa patient, commented to BBC news, "You can't even get [a dental appointment] for ready money. There are even waiting lists for people willing to pay to get on to see a dentist.
"I think it's worse in Bridlington because there's a drastic shortage of dentists, and those that are here are just not taking on any extra clients.
"Bridlington's getting bigger, and we are having housing built all the time with new estates going up. Where are these people going to go?"
Bupa dental care’s regional operations director, Claire Pearson, expressed her regret at the practice closing, saying, “Despite our best efforts, the critical national shortage of NHS dentists means we've been unable to recruit permanent dentists to this practice.
"This means we're not able to offer patients the level of service they need and, after careful consideration, we've made the very difficult decision to close the practice."
Two of the remaining practices in the area have chosen to treat private patients exclusively. But the practices are still “inundated” with patients.
A government representative said it would “incentivise practices to take on high-needs patients who require treatment the most.”