DENTAL patients in Hampshire could soon be treated by dentists recruited from abroad, in a bid to cut waiting lists.

It is hoped the controversial new scheme, which has yet to be given the go-ahead from the NHS, will bring an end to the scenes reported by the Daily Echo earlier this year, when hundreds of people queued around the block for one of 100 places at Whiteley Dental Practice.

By 9.30am the crowd was 200-strong, but 50 per cent of people went home disappointed.

It was a sign of just how bad the national crisis had become locally, with 250,000 people across Hampshire not being registered with an NHS dentist.

The scenes made a farce of the 1999 Modernising NHS Dentistry target, which said: "By September 2001 everybody who needs NHS dentistry will be a phone call away from finding it.

"Information for patients about dentistry will be better and easier to get."

A survey by the Department of Health, which is leading the initiative, revealed that all but 43 of the 279 practices in the county were open only to private patients.

The new scheme, which is subject to the approval of a report due to be published at the end of this month, is expected to include plans to recruit 1,000 dentists, dental nurses and technicians a year to the NHS, including as many as 200 from abroad.

They are expected to come from countries where there is a surplus of staff such as Australia, South Africa and mainland Europe.

It is not yet known whether these dentists will be working in Hampshire if the scheme goes ahead.

Mike Norton, dental adviser for Southampton City Primary Care Trust, said the project could go a long way to solving the county's problems.

He said: "If dentists do come in from abroad then as long as they've got the appropriate skills and language requirements then they would be welcome."