PAYING dental charges can be as painful as having teeth pulled, but patients in Newport can take some comfort from a new survey.

Which? - the independent consumer guide - found charges in the town were lower than in other parts of the country.

It found some dentists charged five or six times more than NHS prices, according to a national study.

Edinburgh and Croydon were the most expensive of eight areas in the survey, while Newport was the cheapest.

The results did not surprise dentist Alun Parker, who has been running his practice single-handedly in Llan-thewy Road since 1981.

Newport was a less affluent place than other areas such as Cardiff, and people were reluctant to pay high prices for dental treatment.

Sixty per cent of Mr Parker's practice of 1,500 patients is private and he criticised the health service for a lack of funding. "These days I can't provide quality dentistry under the health service."

The General Dental Practice Association recommends a charge of £80 for a large white filling - Mr Parker charges £40. Under the association's guidelines a consultation, two X-rays, scale and polish should cost £85, he charges £28.50.

For Mr Parker doing a good job was more important "than money in the bank".

Which? said the NHS charge for a routine check-up, scale and polish was £13.20, but its survey found typical private charges were £30 to £40, while more than one in ten quoted between £50 and £88.50.

Dentists committed to the NHS earn around £55,000 to £65,000 per year. The British Dental Association said dentists were turning to private practice because of low NHS fees.

Helen Parker, editor of Which?, said: "Our survey found startling variations in price between different dentists around the country who are treating people privately.

"As with all goods and services it's impossible to tell whether or not you're getting value for money unless you can compare prices - but more than one in five dentists were unwilling to give us estimates for the cost of their private treatment.

"We'd like to see all dentists publishing price lists."