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 queues of hundreds of people formed in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in the rush to register.

Mr Daulat, of Eastborough, Scarborough, made the painful decision to carry out the DIY dentistry two weeks ago.

Using half a litre of Vodka as anaesthetic, he took the pair of pliers to his teeth.

Since then, infection has set in, causing persistent pain and Mr Daulat has now extracted another to.

Mr Daulat said: "I was just in so much pain, I knew it would hurt but I thought 'just suffer it' rather than go through extended pain.

"I was drunk and then when I woke up in the morning and saw the blood, it was like I'd severed an artery."

He also suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis in his hands shoulders and knees, which forced him out of a job at an engineering works in Bradford. He now lives on benefits in Scarborough.

He said: "I'd welcome a dentist that might offer me help, even if I had to pay him, I'd pay him in instalments just to get rid of this terrible pain."

A friend of Mr Daulat, 25-year-old Elizabeth Hirst 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 ring early enough.

Clinical Lead at the clinic in Northway, Scarborough, John Carney, was shocked at the incident.

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

"I can't believe it because there is no need for it, the primary care trust are going out of their way to improve things and things are improving. There are also emergency practices in Whitby, Malton, Eastfield and Pickering."

Miss Hirst is heavily pregnant with her first child and also needs dental treatment as both diabetes and pregnancy can cause damage to her teeth.

The young mum is entitled to free NHS dental treatment but currently has to travel the £30, two hour long journey, to her home town of Bradford where dentists are easily available.

Miss Hirst said: "If I'd known about the dentist problem I wouldn't have moved here, how far do you have to travel to get a dentist?"

Miss Hirst will be joining the queue this Wednesday when the Corner House Dental Practice will be offering another 25 NHS patients the chance to register, but with growing numbers fighting for places she does not hold out much hope.

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

Problems in Driffield and Eastborough also saw scores of people left without a dentist.

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

A new NHS dentist will be arriving at Eastfield at the beginning of winter and the PCT have installed the Patient Liaison and Advice Service, PALS, which allows would-be patients like Mr Daulat to register on a database and the PCT will then find a dentist for them.

Mr Daulat said: "People will think I am crazy to have pulled my own teeth out but they weren't living with the pain. "I have had terrible toothache for weeks, it is there all the time and pain killers had stopped working.

"I was lying awake at night being driven mad by this constant throbbing ache, it was horrible.

"In the end I simply couldn't take any more and decided the only thing for it was drastic action.

"I had a pair of pliers in a tool box, they were old and a bit rusty but I knew they would do the job.

"I bought a bottle of vodka because there is no way I could have done that sober.

"I thought it would dull the pain - but I was so wrong, it was agonising.

"The teeth causing me the problems were on my bottom set at the back. I gripped the first one, squeezed and pulled as hard as I could.

"I felt the wrench in my gums and this blinding pain, followed by a snap as the tooth cracked. "I stopped to steel myself and then pulled again and managed to get the whole thing out.

"But the pain was still there and I went back for two more. I managed to get them out but the fourth wouldn't come.

"I tugged and tugged but it was killing me. I couldn't get it out and I have had to leave it half way out.

"Things feel a lot better now and the pain has lessened but I am still searching for a dentist because the other tooth needs to be removed properly.

"It us the hardest and most horrible thing I have ever done but I was driven there by desperation.

"The government needs to sort out the problems in the NHS so that no one else ever has to go through this." .