THOUSANDS of wasted hours and more than £1m down the drain.

That is the cost of patients who do not bother to turn up to their NHS dental appointments.

Across the county, 56,223 appointments have been wasted over 18 months - amounting to 720 every week.

The statistics fly in the face of the constant struggle people face trying to get on the books of an NHS dentist as more and more go over to the private sector.

Earlier this month, the Daily Echo highlighted the shocking case of grandmother Elizabeth Green who resorted to pulling out her own teeth after she couldn't find an NHS dentist in her home city of Winchester.

NHS dentists in Hampshire lost out on more than £1m between April 2006 and October 2007 thanks to the missed appointments, which could lead to more of them choosing to operate private practices instead, health chiefs have warned.

The thousands of hours wasted amount to eight full-time dentists who could have provided much-needed NHS treatment over the past two years.

There is also no deterrent to stop people from not showing up, as the Government does not allow practices to charge for missed NHS slots.

Valerie May, practice manager at Prodent, in Shirley, Southampton, said in March, 117 patients did not attend NHS appointments, wasting 23 hours of surgery time.

Valerie, whose practice has 13,000 patients on its books and two full-time dentists, said: "We get an awful lot of missed appointments. Some of them might only be five-minute check-ups, but when you get a 40-minute slot missed the dentist and dental nurse are sitting there twiddling their thumbs when there is a queue of people outside waiting to make appointments.

"It's frustrating and a complete waste of everyone's time."

She said patients received three warnings before being struck off the books.

Heather Percival, practice receptionist at the NHS Dental Practice in Bournemouth Road, Chandler's Ford, said yesterday: "It's only 11am and we have already had two patients not turn up. We have three dentists here and there are between 50 and 100 appointments booked daily. Of them, between five and ten patients fail to turn up."

Patients in urgent need of dental care, such as Mrs Green, a 76-year-old widow, are queuing up to get on the books of NHS dentists in Hampshire.

During the last financial year, Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) spent £36m on providing dental appointments. It plans to spend £39m this year.

Natalie Jones, lead contracting manager for primary dental services, said: "We have invested in NHS dentistry over the last two years because we know that local people want better access to NHS dentistry.

"This waste of appointments prevents thousands of patients from seeing an NHS dentist.

"We are urging patients to make sure they attend their appointments and, if they can no longer make the appointment, please telephone your dentist as soon as possible to rearrange."

A spokesman for Southampton City PCT said the authority did not have a record of missed NHS dental appointments in the city as individual practices kept the figures themselves.