Dentists in the Midlands who left the NHS over the controversial new contract are being forced to return to the service because of the on-going economic downturn.
Ros Hamburger, the region’s dental boss, revealed she had started to see a rise in dentists wanting to rejoin the National Health Service as cash-strapped Brits start to think twice about paying for private treatment .
Ms Hamburger said that "very few dentists" actually left the NHS altogether over the new contracts.
The consultant in Dental Public Health added: "Some dentists will always be fed up. I remember one moaning to me, then driving off in his Porsche."
"There is an assumption that NHS dentistry is hard to find but in fact, we have a lot of NHS dentists taking on new patients in Birmingham."
Despite protests across Birmingham and the Black Country, 356 of 372 dentists (95 per cent) signed the NHS dental contract when it was introduced in April 2006.
