A NEW dental surgery in East Cornwall which has applied to become an NHS practice is attracting patients from a 40 mile radius. The Tamar Valley Dental Clinic at Kelly Bray ? which signed up more than 1,000 patients within the first two weeks of registration ? has doubled its intake since opening a month ago. Financier of the new clinic Ian Wallace, who owns the Florence Road Business Park where the dentist is situated, said he was very pleased with the response so far. ?We are really busy and are fully booked until the end of February,? he said. ?We can probably fit in an extra 500 patients at the moment but are planning to take on another dentist and hygienist next Spring when the capacity will go up by 2,500.? The clinic, which aims to cut the cost of private adult treatment by 50%, wants to secure an NHS contract to treat children and some adults under the NHS. Its opening delighted MP Colin Breed who said NHS practices in Cornwall were desperately needed. But the outcome of the application will not be known until April when the new NHS contract is decided by the Government. Mr Wallace said people were coming from as far as Bodmin and Paignton for treatment.
