DENTAL clinics on Teesside are bucking the trend by accepting patients seeking NHS treatment.

The Genix Healthcare clinics, in Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough, and in Marske, have taken on an extra 2,000 NHS patients and have availability for 8,000 more.

Katrina Hardy set up Genix two years ago to fill the gap in the market.

She said: "We buy practices and then refit them. We will add new surgery rooms where ever we can, therefore increasing the number of dentists the clinic can hold, which in turn increases the number of new NHS patients we can take on."