Sir, I wrote to you on October 1, 2004, on the subject 'What Price Our Children's Teeth'. This was in connection with the services withdrawn from Tenby Cottage Hospital in attending to the children's teeth from the area, due to a broken dental chair. The chair was shared between dentistry and podiatry and the Health Trust replaced a chair for podiatry only, leaving the children of Tenby area to travel far afield to obtain dental services. They said it was not a matter of the cost of a new dentistry chair, but sufficient space to locate one. This I found beyond belief, the fact that there was a dentist available, but no space available for them to perform. The Tenby Town Council supported me on this and wrote to the NHS in this connection. I then requested local MP Nick Ainger to help and he wrote to Bernadine Rees, chief executive of Pembrokeshire Local Health Board, on October 20, 2004, and she replied to Mr. Ainger saying that his letter had been forwarded to Frank O'Sullivan, chief executive of Derwen NHS Trust, who manage the Community Dental Service. This was on October 25, 2004, and there was no response or acknowledgement. Mr. Ainger has sent two follow-up letters to Mr. O'Sullivan, on January 17, 2005, and March 22, 2005, and again no response has ever been received. People may say, wait for the new facilities to open in the planned new hospital, but when this ever happens, who is to say there will be a dentist available for it.
B. G. Hunt,
Mayfield Drive, Tenby.