A dental practice has written to patients telling them there will be no further NHS treatment because of a shortage of dentists.

Bupa Dental Care in Folkestone says the decision to suspend this type of treatment is a result of a national crisis in recruitment, which has seen about 2,000 practitioners leave the NHS in the last year.

The practice, which is located in Shorncliffe Road, says it is "doing everything we can" to recruit more dentists.

Its letter to patients, seen by KentOnline, practice manager Robert Sanders says: "I am writing to inform you that at present we can no longer see NHS patients.

"I'd like to reassure you that we're doing everything we can to recruit more dentists to the practice, however there is a national shortage which makes it difficult to find dentists to deliver NHS care.

"We understand how difficult it is to get an NHS dental appointment in Folkestone, and we're sorry that we're not able to offer more appointments at the moment."

Patients affected are advised to either find an NHS dentist elsewhere, be seen as a private patient, or remain on the books as an NHS patient and hope that staff are recruited to allow treatment to resume.

One frustrated patient, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "When I last went they told me that they were employing two part-time NHS dentists, so you wonder what's happened to them in six months.

"I have been going there for decades - I am devastated. I also feel a bit let down as I was reassured they were taking on new staff when my previous dentist left.

"I have been thinking I'm due for a check-up, but I don't want to have to pay to go private.

"I'm a pensioner without the income to pay for it, and having paid into the NHS I feel it should be everyone's right to access an NHS dentist in their vicinity."

In August, KentOnline revealed how NHS dentistry was said to be at a tipping point, with millions of patients unable to get the care they need – from routine check-ups to major surgery.

Some residents told of having to wait more than two years for a routine appointment.

A report published by the Association of Dental Groups (ADG) earlier this year identified Kent as one of the country's worst "dental deserts", with the Kent and Medway Clinical Commissioning Group providing just 45 NHS dentists per 100,000 people - one of the lowest figures nationwide.

The ADG report warns that the emergence of so-called "dental deserts" will have a wider impact on health outcomes, since routine dental check-ups are a vital first line of defence against mouth cancers and type-two diabetes.