FEARS that people in remote areas are missing out on NHS care have prompted health bosses to provide a new generation of mobile dental surgeries.

The Government is keen to ensure that everyone has equal access to NHS dental care.

However, some rural areas of the North-East and North Yorkshire are far away from the nearest dentist.

County Durham and Darlington Health Authority have decided to commission a new mobile dental surgery to meet the needs of scattered communities.

Expected to be on the road around the Christmas period, the Volvo vehicle will take dentists into the remotest areas of County Durham.

Unlike earlier mobile dental units, the new vehicle will offer a full range of services.

County Durham and Darlington Health Authority successfully applied for Government funding for the mobile unit.

It will be staffed by a new type of dentist employed under an NHS pilot scheme.

As part of the drive to deliver good quality dental care to everyone the authority is about to ask 20,000 residents to fill in a dental health survey.

The survey, due to go out to a random selection of adults aged between 25 and 64, will be used to identify areas where dental facilities are poor.

"We have the poorest dentist-to-population ratio in the North-East. We really want to find out what difficulties people have in accessing NHS dental care. We need to know from people what the problems are," said public health dentist David Landes.

The result of the survey, which will ask people how often they have had problems with their teeth, their visits to the dentist and their lifestyle, will help health bosses decide where extra services will be deployed.

It will also provide valuable information about where the new mobile dental surgery is most needed.

"The survey will help identify areas of need. We need to know what the problems are out there," said Mr Landes.

Officials from County Durham and Darlington Health Authority visited Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire to gather information about similar mobile dental units before deciding on the exact specifications needed for the North-East vehicle.

In 1998, 55 per cent of adults in the UK were in need of some form of dental treatment and 13 per cent had lost all their teeth.