Refugees could be the key to solving shortages in NHS dentistry hitting the region, it has been claimed.

Parts of the North East including County Durham and Teesside have previously been described as dental deserts meaning no practices are taking on patients. In January not a single surgery in four of the five Tees Valley council areas was open to new NHS patients.

There are said to be at least ten asylum seekers trained as skilled dentists living in the area who are “really keen” to work.

But to be able to practice they have face hefty costs and have to sit exams to convert their qualifications to the UK standard.

A similar scheme running on Teesside to get refugee doctors working in the NHS has so far found 39 of 40 doctors it trained jobs in the health service.

Fran Wood, chair of Darlington Assistance for Refugees, said: “They’re really keen to work – that’s what they trained for, it’s what they are really good at.

“It also brings value to their lives and makes people realise that asylum seeks have got so much to offer.

“There ‘repod’ scheme in Teesside trained 40 doctors and 39 are working in the NHS.

“If the NHS helps to train them, they could say they have to work for three to five years, it’s much cheaper than trying to train someone new.

“It costs up to £250,000 to train a dentist from scratch. This would just cost about £25,000 per person to train; that’s including the equipment that they need to buy.”

One refugee dentist who fled to Darlington from Afghanistan, where he ran his own practice, has been living here since April last year unable to work.

Only dentists on the General Dental Council (GDC) register are legally allowed to practice in the UK.

Anyone with qualifications from anywhere else are required pass the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE), which can take years.

The only other way to practice is under temporary registration, but that means they can only work when supervised, for training.

Last month the government proposed new measures to help dentists registered oversees to practice more easily here. Plans include a new provisional registration which will allow dentists to practice under supervision, not just for training, and the level of supervision will depend on their experience according to the GDC.

But the British Dental Association (BDA) criticised the plans, urging the government to take further action to address the UK dental system as a whole.

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It said: “Ministers need to stop trying to fill a leaky bucket, and actually fix it.”

Fran Wood continued: “The NHS dental plan is going to provide 2.5 million appointments but there’s 12 million people who were unable to access an NHS dentist last year.

“This would help more people be seen.”