UP to 1,000 NHS dental places will be lost in Newport after a dentist announced he will only treat private patients after April 1.

Dr Irwin Wright said his Stow Park practice will not sign up to a new NHS contract. He claims the contract will reduce the level of care he can give to patients.

Last month 17,000 NHS places were lost in Chepstow when two practices said they would not sign the new contract.

Under the new contract, Wales' Local Health Boards will take responsibility for agreeing NHS provision with their areas' dental practices.

Dr Wright, who has been in practice at Stow Park dental surgery since 1981, said he wants to provide quality dental care "without regard for externally imposed targets and quotas".

He said: "I do not believe the new NHS contract will allow me to continue to provide this level of care."

He also criticised new guidelines that recommend seeing patients less often. Dr Wright, 56, said many of his 1,000 NHS patients were signing up with his private scheme, with prices starting at £11.50 a month.

But he said he expects around 30 per cent of those affected, around 300 patients, to leave his practice altogether.

He said: "It's a pretty stressful time. I don't like having to do this but I feel it's the only choice."

Stuart Geddes, a former Usk dentist, now director of the British Dental Association Wales, said he was concerned about the announcement.

"As soon as dental practices start to charge you get different categories of patients. "The whole basis on which the contract is written is flawed.

"You could find that dentists are running out of money halfway through the financial year." No-one from Newport Local Health Board was available for comment as the Argus went to Press.

* An Assembly spokeswoman said the new scheme was tailored to patients' needs, with routine visits no longer necessary for everyone.

She added: "The current fee-per-item system encourages regular visits from those who are dentally healthy while those with poor oral health do not visit the dentist as frequently as they should.

"We want to reverse the decline in the number of people who are able to access NHS dentistry.

"Clearly the fact that 179 Personal Dental Scheme pilot schemes have been agreed securing NHS dental treatment for over 700,000 existing patients and creating more than 200,000 new NHS places must indicate that we are moving in the right direction."