Campaigners for improved dental services in Suffolk pledged to keep fighting as they marked the third anniversary of the closure of a town's last NHS dental practice.

Representatives of the Toothless in England group gathered in Leiston where two dental practices offering NHS care closed within a year of each other - in 2020 and 2021.

First to go was the town's Bupa dentist, which shut in 2020, to be followed by the closure of the mydentist practice in April 2021.

READ MORE: Suffolk dental campaigners meet Government minister

At the time, a mydentist spokesperson cited difficulties in recruiting dentists, along with increased running costs, as being the main reasons behind the decision.

Since then, the Toothless campaign group has been set up seeking better dental care in Suffolk.

The group has six main aspirations, which include the provision of an NHS dentist for everyone, dental care to be free at the point of use and reforms to the NHS dental contract to encourage more dentists to provide NHS treatments.

READ MORE: Toothless in Suffolk hits out at government dentistry plan

Mark Jones, from Toothless in England, said: "In April 2021, the town lost its final NHS dental practice. To commemorate this anniversary, we brought our campaign back to Leiston.

"Westminster failed to stop the controlled decline of NHS oral healthcare, which started in 2006, by forcing dentists under a new NHS dental contract despite warnings that it would fail patients as well as them.

"This means that every year that passes is another year that local patients must endure needless suffering.

"We will continue to do all we can to ensure that, whichever political party takes control of the Government at the general election, there's an NHS dentist for everyone."

READ MORE: Leiston news