Britons are returning to the dark ages when it comes to getting their teeth fixed, a report has warned.

More patients are having them pulled out rather than spending money to get repairs and MPs on the Commons Health Committee blame failing NHS reforms.

Almost a million fewer people are seeing a dentist since the changes to the way they were paid.

Dentists used to be paid a fee for each item of treatment they provided but they now receive an annual income in return for carrying out an agreed amount of work, known as units of dental activity (UDAs).

The committee suggested this had removed the incentive to give appropriate treatment.

Evidence presented to the MPs found that the number of tooth extractions has risen since the new contract was introduced, while the volume of more complex work like crowns, bridges and dentures has fallen by 57 per cent.

The report said it was "extraordinary" that the Department of Health did not carry out pilot studies on the UDA system before introducing it across England.

And it said that, despite assurances from the Government that the new arrangements would work if PCTs (Primary Care Trusts) and dentists acted more flexibly and used common sense and goodwill, the Committee "saw little evidence this will happen".

It also found little evidence that preventative care has increased - one of the Government's key aims for the contract.

Dental work is now split into three bands, with band one being a simple course of treatment such as a check-up or X-ray, costing the patient £16.20.

Band two treatment costs £44.60 and covers everything in band 1 plus fillings, root canal work or extraction.

Band three costs £198 and covers everything in bands 1 and 2 plus crowns, dentures or bridges.

In evidence to the committee, Andrew Harris, who is in charge of dentistry for Devon Primary Care Trust, said: "A dentist may feel that the reward (UDAs) is not there to do as many band 3 treatments as he did in the past."

Committee chairman and Labour MP Kevin Barron said: "It is disappointing that so far the new dental contract has failed to improve the patient's experience of dental services.

"While we readily accept that in some areas of the country provision of NHS dentistry is good, overall provision is patchy.

"Fewer patients are visiting an NHS dentist than before the contracts were introduced in April 2006, we heard little evidence that preventative care has increased, and patients seem less likely to receive complex treatments they may require within the NHS."

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