NHS dentists across Wigan have been inundated with requests from desperate people hundreds of miles away, a meeting heard.
Only 33 - 9.4 per cent - dentists in the borough now provide NHS services, with would-be patients struggling to be seen. Wigan council's Health and Social Care scrutiny committee heard 31.9 per cent of children up to five in the borough are thought to have cavities or tooth decay.
Asked by councillors how residents could have a better chance of being taken on by an NHS dentist, Ben Squires, head of primary care at NHS Greater Manchester, said: "They [dentists] are often deluged with inquiries about this even from people hundreds of miles away as this is a national challenge.
