Dental patients are still having to wait months before they can get treatment because of a shortage of dentists, it has been claimed.

And one dentist says that Immigration procedures are largely responsible for the lack of qualified staff.

Local dentist Duncan Moran said that the Dental Board - which advises the Department of Immigration on whether or not foreign dental workers should be allowed to practise on the Island - was blocking applications, creating a manpower shortage.

The row first erupted two years ago when a UK dentist, hoping to work in Bermuda, took a Dental Board exam and failed. The result was appealed and a Supreme Court ruling judged that the Board had been biased in its marking.

Dr. Moran said: "The biggest problem is that people are waiting too long for the dentist of their choice.

"The Dental Board is against bringing in foreign dentists and they don't want them to take away their business and be making money."

Dr. Moran also questioned why Board chairman Dr. Richard Cann was still in the post, despite the court's ruling.

"This is the first time the Dental Board has ever been accused of such behaviour and it still has the same chairman," Dr. Moran said.

Dr. Moran's concerns were backed up by fellow dentist Desiree Ward, who said that the procedure for bringing in foreigners to work as assistants was complicated.

But she said problems with the process were caused by the poor application process within the Department of Immigration, rather than the fault of the Dental Board.

"It takes so long for immigration to review cases and then the board (Dental Board) holds up the time more to also review the application. It all needs to be coordinated better," Dr. Ward said.

"In the case of the Dental Board, a rotation of "drafted" members of the dental community should be present at the table at the Department of Immigration during the application review process at which time they would purely serve to consult."

But another dentist, Vincent Bridgewater, denied that practices were suffering because of a shortage of staff.

"I don't run myself off my feet and I don't know how other dentists book patients. It's still the same dentists making noise," Dr. Bridgewater said.

"There are dental students away and they are going to look for work and the Dental Board needs to keep jobs open for them when they return."

Board chairman Dr. Cann, who had previously refused to speak to the media, finally broke his silence on the issue.

He refuted the allegations, saying that patients' preference for a dentist was always going to be a problem no matter where they lived.

"A professional body has to have a statutory advisory board because credentials have to be looked at by qualified people," he said.

"People have a preference when it comes to the dentist they want to see but they can't always get in. Bringing in extra help isn't going to solve the problem because the patient still isn't going to see the particular dentist they prefer."