THERE is no room in Herefordshire's NHS dental surgeries for tiny tots Amelia and Marianne Gough.

They are all too busy to add the little girls' names to their lists.

Marianne, aged three months, is still waiting for her first tooth to come through but Amelia, nearly two, has almost a full set.

Their mother Barbara wants to get them registered with a dentist to start them on NHS oral care as soon as possible but says she has been met by a brick wall.

The message from all the dentists she has phoned has been a point blank refusal, not even a chance to go on a waiting list.

Stunned

"I am really stunned by the response. As parents, we are being told all the time about the importance of oral care, paying attention to our children's teeth and making sure they are regularly checked," she said.

She thought there would be no problem in finding an NHS dentist to provide the service and is now very concerned for the future.

Before Barbara had children she and her husband, Anthony, paid for their own dental care.

But she became a stay-at-home mum to look after Amelia and Marianne and says the cost of private care for the whole family would be a serious worry.

When she sought help from Herefordshire Primary Care Trust she was advised to get in touch with the Rapid Response NHS dental unit in Hereford.

Barbara did, was told they did not register patients but eventually agreed the children's names could go on a waiting list.

"It will take 12 months for a check up, the way things are going next time it could be three years," said Barbara.

Now she is considering going back 'private' to ensure her daughters get early care.

"But I am disillusioned. They urge you to look after your children's teeth from the very beginning and then they are unable to deliver the service," she said.

At the PCT, primary care manager Charmaine Jones agreed there was a problem but was hopeful things would get better.

A review was going on in Herefordshire on the way dentists are paid for NHS work.

Trials were taking place with several dentists and the results were expected in 2004 which could lead to a new-look NHS dental service across the country.

The need to register with a dentist could become a thing of the past with dentists paid for the actual work they do and not for the number on the register.

But success of any new system would depend on how many dentists were prepared to work with the NHS and not all go private.