Fewer than half of the adults in Oxfordshire have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years.

According to new Government figures, only two fifths of people living in the county had low-cost dental care between April 2005 and March 2007, compared to more than half across England.

The statistics come just days after GPs told the Oxford Mail that patients unable to find an NHS dentist were visiting them for help with potentially life-threatening mouth infections.

They show that just 41.4 per cent of Oxfordshire adults sat in an NHS dentist's chair in the previous two financial years - 10 per cent less than across England as a whole, where 51.5 per cent of over-18s opened their mouths for treatment.

The figures appear to back claims by Dr Tia MacGregor, of St Clements Surgery, Oxford, that patients find it so hard to find an NHS dentist that they eventually have to visit their doctors for help.

Commenting on the Government statistics, she said: "If you look at the indices of deprivation in Oxfordshire, we have some of the most deprived wards, and the same is true in Banbury.

"So we can't make a generalisation that only 40 per cent of people see an NHS dentist because we live in an affluent area where people have private care instead."

Despite showing poor NHS care among adults, the county fared better for children, and 77.3 per cent of Oxfordshire youngsters had low-cost dental treatment, compared to 70.7 per cent across England.

And the county actually had more dentists per resident than across England as a whole. Oxfordshire had 49 dentists to every 100,000 people, while England had 42.

Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, which oversees county dentistry, said it was reviewing access to NHS dentists, particularly in poorer areas.

Head of primary care contracted services Ginny Hope said: "The PCT has supported the development of two new dental practices providing NHS dental care in Wallingford, Bicester and more recently a third in Banbury.

"We're in the process of reviewing dental access in relation to dental need and in particular, areas of deprivation within the county.

"We're also looking at evidence such as the information gathered by Citizens Advice Bureau and our Patient Advice and Liaison Service to prioritise service changes."

Anyone who needs an NHS dentist in an emergency can get an appointment at one of the PCT's dental access centres. Call 0800 052 6088 during office hours and 0845 345 8995 at other times.