A RETIRED dentist in Chagford has stepped in to try and save the town?s dental practice which has served the area for more than 100 years. The practice?s former owner Roger Anderson says there is a very real threat that the present owner of the practice will close it before the end of the month, forcing those in the town to travel much further for treatment. Mr Anderson says he will be writing to local decision-makers to try to save the important rural amenity. But he says time is running out, as staff have been given their notice with effect from the end of next week. He said: ?With the nearest alternative dental services being in Okehampton, North Tawton and Bovey Tracey the problems for the less mobile who live in the Chagford catchment area in accessing a dentist are about to be drastically increased. ?Nationwide, there is a powerful trend for valuable rural facilities and amenities to be lost, never to be replaced, the consequent centralisation of services bringing its attendant problems with transport and access generally.? There has been a dental practice in Mill Street, Chagford, for more than 100 years, providing an important service for inhabitants of the town. Mr Anderson ran the practice for 18 years but retired four years ago, when the present owner took on the business. Mr Anderson said at its height Chagford had a full-time practice with about 3,000 registered patients from the town and surroundings areas. The practice was now run on a part-time basis, as is the owner?s other practice in Bovey Tracey. Mr Anderson said: ?It is not just Chagford. There are a lot of small villages like Gidleigh and Murchington which look to Chagford as a centre and use its shops, doctor?s surgery and dentists. ?We just cannot believe there is not some alternative to closing the practice because there is still a huge demand.? ?Obviously, one cannot make anyone run a business if they want to stop, but we just hope that if we are able to show how well-used the practice is, someone else might want to take it on.? He said the disappearance of post offices, cottage hospitals, schools, small medical and dental practices and other key rural amenities was happening and unless an effort to voice opinions was made they would be lost forever. A spokesman for Mid Devon PCT said: ?Mid Devon Primary Care Trust has been made aware of the surgery?s intention to close and we are investigating ways patients in Chagford can continue to access NHS dentistry. ?The trust continues to give every encouragement to dentists who wish to open new NHS surgeries or take on existing NHS lists. ?We have one of the highest NHS dental access rates in the country and while this does not help the situation in Chagford, it does demonstrate our efforts to improve access in Mid Devon.? The issue has been put on the agenda of Chagford Parish Council ahead of its next meeting on Monday, January 23. No-one from the dental practice wished to comment about the decision to close the practice.
