Arfon MS Siân Gwenllian blasted the Welsh Secretary of State for praising dental healthcare in Wales as a blueprint to follow.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Jo Stevens said the UK Government had a cross-border healthcare plan to cut waiting lists in Wales pledging that the “UK Government will take inspiration from Wales on dentistry”.

Siân Gwenllian slammed the comments as “disingenuous” saying they “ignored a multitude of failures” in Wales’ dentistry provision.

Mrs Gwenllian organised a conference in Bangor making the case for a school of dentistry in the city and published a report on the subject.

She made the call for a dental school amid what she described as “a growing dental crisis”, saying many of her constituents were unable to access services which not only affected them but also put “added pressures” on A&E services.

She said: “I was astonished to hear praise for dental health care in Wales when the day-to-day reality for families in Arfon is quite different.

“Since 2016, myself and other politicians have been inundated, we receive bag-loads of mail, containing many stories, many harrowing stories, of families unable to access a dentist and unable to afford private care.

“Many end up with major problems down the line, I particularly worry about children not accessing dental care – it’s building problems for the future.

“There is a major problem in Arfon.

“Just last week, Kelly O’Donnell from Bethel spoke about how her family have been unable to see an NHS dentist for more than four years.

“I have published a report that laid bare the stark reality of the dental crisis in Wales, and called for a School of Dentistry based in Bangor in my constituency to get to grips with shortages.

“The report showed that only 36.6 per cent of the population in the Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board area had received NHS dental treatment in the past two years.

“Less than half of the child population had been seen to by an NHS dentist.

“The Welsh Secretary’s comments were disingenuous and ignored a multitude of failures in Wales’ dentistry provision.

“I hope the Secretary of State for Wales will join me in calling for her Labour colleagues in Cardiff to set up a school training dentists at Bangor University, as soon as possible.

“We have to start recruiting and training more dentists to respond to the demand, especially in the north, we have now a medical school opening its door this term, a dental school is the next natural step.

“I want to see Bangor grow as a centre for excellence for training health professionals.”

First Minister Eluned Morgan said they have managed to introduce nearly 400,000 new patient appointments to the NHS, adding: “We can’t force dentists to work for the NHS, but the fact that that new contract has delivered that many in two years is, I think, a significant step forward, and it’s much better than anything the Tories managed to do in England under the previous Prime Minister.”