A Woodbridge dental practice has apologised for a "misunderstanding" which saw a patient "deregistered" because she had not booked an appointment for several months.

{my}dentist said it would be contacting Vicky Cullum to confirm she can attend the practice.

The 29-year-old, from Woodbridge, last had an appointment in late 2018 and was told that she did not need to book an appointment for a year, as her teeth were in excellent condition.

After a busy 2019, Miss Cullum decided she would book her appointment after Christmas - only for the pandemic to hit.

With her practice closed for part of the crisis, Miss Cullum decided to wait further before booking an appointment - as she was aware there were long backlogs for appointments.

She was also "really anxious" about returning to the practice during the pandemic.

East Anglian Daily Times: {my}dentist in Woodbridge{my}dentist in Woodbridge (Image: Google Maps)

Having had her first coronavirus vaccine, she decided to try to book an appointment a few weeks ago.

However, when she called the practice she was told that she had been deregistered, because she had left it too long to book an appointment.

"They had never contacted me," said Miss Cullum.

"I had not had any reminders."

She said she would have booked an appointment earlier had she known.

However, a spokesman for {my}dentist said: “We apologise for this misunderstanding and we are contacting the patients involved to confirm that they can still access NHS dental care at the practice.

"Normally we would consider that a patient has sought alternative dental care if we’ve not treated them in the last two years, but because of the pandemic, we appreciate that patients may have delayed contacting us for appointments and this is being taken into account.

“Access to NHS dentistry is in huge demand across the whole of the UK and our {my}dentist practice teams are working hard to treat as many NHS patients as possible.”