Residents in Telford have been unable to get their teeth checked regularly at a local dentist, it has been claimed.
Patients say they have been unable to see a dentist at Woodside Dental Practice, in the Park Lane Community Centre, after it stopped keeping to its normal opening hours in the last couple of weeks.
The centre, which advertises its hours as 9am to 12.30pm and1.15pm to 5pm Monday to Friday, is currently said to be open just three days a week.
Debra Vincent, who has lived in Woodside for 36 years, said she has had appointments cancelled.
“It is closed on Thursdays and Fridays and has been for a few months,” she said. “I have had appointments cancelled, and so has my son, my brothers and my nieces. And not just one time either.
“It is a worry. We have all been saying we wanted a dentist on Woodside and now it is not being used.
“If there is an emergency you could be sent Wellington way and that is quite far if you haven’t got a car.
“My son had a really bad experience with an abscess four weeks ago. But the dentists here was shut and he was taken to hospital where he was in overnight.
“We were on the phone for four or five hours ringing all around Telford trying to get an appointment. We went to Dawley and they referred him to the hospital.”
Miss Vincent said there is a waiting list for people to join the dentist and if someone set up a petition a lot of people would sign it.
“There are quite a lot of people complaining about it,” she said. “We need to get a petition. Something has got to be done about it.
“It is a nice and clean dentist and the people are really nice.”
Anna Charalambous-Green, NHS Telford and Wrekin’s Lead Commissioner for Primary Care said: “We are aware of some issues regarding the Woodside dental practice and are in discussions with the providers of the service in a bid to resolve these.”
Councillor Gill Green said: “Community access to the dental surgery is very important.”