More than 14,000 people have signed up with a Bridlington dental practice after it opened its books to NHS patients for the first time.

Genix Healthcare's Bridlington Dental Studio in the East Riding of Yorkshire seaside town launched its NHS waiting list in May 2026 and began seeing patients on 3 August after being awarded a contract to provide 5,000 appointments a year.

Since then, 488 NHS patients have received routine care at the practice, including 274 children, while a minimum of 14 urgent and emergency appointments have been provided each day.

According to the provider, the response has 'reinforced just how significant the demand is locally'.

Bethany Sleeman, head of operations at Genix Healthcare, told GDPUK: 'We knew there was significant unmet demand before we opened.

'We attended the Bridlington Health Forum and heard directly from local people, including stories of patients having to travel more than 60 miles for urgent dental care.

'What has been striking is the sheer scale of that demand once NHS provision became available.'

According to a BBC report, the closure of two NHS practices in 2022 contributed to the town being left with just one NHS dentist by April 2024.

Bridlington Dental Studio had previously treated private patients but secured an NHS contract covering 5,000 routine appointments a year.

Sarah Whiting, NHS lead for the practice, told the BBC that in addition to the 14,000 online registrations, 2,300 telephone requests for appointments had been received in six weeks.

She added that the team was working through the waiting list in order, while prioritising children and patients in pain.

The provider is also developing nurse-led oral health and prevention clinics for the wider community.

Genix invested around £100,000 within four weeks of acquiring the practice, expanding it from three to five surgeries, with plans for another two.

Each additional surgery has the potential to provide around 4,500 to 5,000 appointments annually. However, Ms Sleeman warned that ‘physical capacity and NHS commissioned capacity are two different things’.

She added: 'NHS dental contracts have a defined level of activity, and the number of people who want NHS care in Bridlington is significantly greater than the number of patients we can accommodate within the current contract.'

Ms Sleeman emphasised that Genix will continue working closely with the ICB to ‘deliver as much NHS care as possible for the people of Bridlington’.

She also said a further NHS contract of the same size had been commissioned to another provider and was expected to go live in due course, bringing additional NHS dental capacity to the area.

'Where further NHS capacity becomes available in the future, and we have the workforce and facilities to deliver it, Genix Healthcare would absolutely welcome the opportunity to do more,' she added.

Meanwhile, Genix noted that 7.5 hours of clinical time had been lost in the past month through patients failing to attend appointments.

Ms Sleeman said: 'With this level of demand, every appointment matters and that time could have been offered to another patient waiting for care.'