BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Some Britons try to pull out their own teeth because of the shortage of dentists or the high expense of seeing a dentist, according to a major survey quoted by media reports Monday.

    Six percent of 5,000 patients in the survey, commissioned by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, admitted they had resorted to self-treatment using pliers and glue because they cannot find -- or cannot afford -- a dentist.

    UK has a two-tier dental care system with some dentists offering publicly subsidized treatment through the National Health Service (NHS) and others performing more expensive private work.

    Nearly half of dentists surveyed said they had stopped treating NHS patients. As a result, nearly 80 percent of Britons on private insurance said they were pushed there because they couldn't find an NHS dentist. Only 15 percent of those privately insured said their choice was based on quality of treatment.

    Almost a fifth said they had refused dental treatment because of the cost.

    One respondent in Lancashire, northern England, claimed to have extracted 14 teeth with a pair of pliers. In Liverpool, one of those collecting data for the survey interviewed three people who had pulled out their own teeth in one morning.

    Valerie Halsworth, 64, said she had removed seven of her own teeth using her husband's pliers when her toothache became unbearable and she was unable to find an NHS dentist willing to treat her.

    Halsworth admitted that the first extraction had been "excruciatingly painful."

    Some other people said they had fixed broken crowns using glue to avoid costly dental work.

    Sharon Grant, chair of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, said: "These findings indicate that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly."

    (Agencies)