A DESPERATE patient who found it impossible to register with an NHS dentist resorted to removing his own teeth with a pair of rusty pliers.

George Daulat, 47, was suffering severe toothache but could not find anyone to treat him in a town with a chronic shortage of cover.

Earlier this year, hundreds of people queued in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in the rush to register at a practice.

Mr Daulat, of Eastborough, Scarborough, used half a litre of vodka as an anaesthetic.

Since then, infection has set in, causing persistent pain.

Mr Daulat has now extracted another two.

Mr Daulat said: "People will think I am crazy to have pulled my own teeth out but they weren't living with the pain."

Elizabeth Hirst, 25, a friend of Mr Daulat, has written to Tony Blair after their search for a dentist failed.

She called almost 20 practices in Scarborough, NHS and private, to no avail as her friend's situation worsened.

Scarborough's emergency NHS dentist, Northway Clinic, refused to treat Mr Daulat the day he pulled his tooth out because he didn't contact them early enough.

John Carney, of Northway, Clinic, said: "If he had rung here at 8.30am he would have had an appointment that day, it's as simple as that."

Dire problems with NHS dentist shortages in Scarborough earlier this year forced the Government into taking notice as 3,000 people were left stranded outside the New Queen Street practice after Dutch dentist Aria Van Drie was found to have a criminal conviction.

Since then, the Primary Care Trust for Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale has been working hard on policies to combat the shortage using Government funding to attract NHS dentists to the area.

* In May, it was reported that Valerie Halsworth, 64, also from the Scarborough area, removed five of her teeth over a five-year period, using pliers. She lost her place at the surgery she had been visiting for more than 30 years when her time between appointments exceeded Government guidelines.