Almost 4,500 new NHS dental places for Newton Abbot have been created following the decision of an award-winning practice to pull out of the service.

This week, NHS Devon said it was recruiting two new dentists who would more than make up for the loss.

They should be in post by April 1, averting a potential crisis this summer when the El-Nashar practice will stop treating its thousands of adult NHS patients.

Andrew Harris, who commissions NHS dentistry services for the trust, said: 'We were very disappointed that the El-Nashar dental practice had chosen to treat a large number of patients privately from June 1 as we've tried hard to make sure there is good NHS dentistry provision in the area for years.

'Many patients may have felt they had no option but to go private when they read the letter the practice sent to them but I'm pleased to say that this is not the case.

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