Leading dental professionals including Professors Tara Renton and Tim Newton and Chief Executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Nigel Carter, are launching the Saving Teeth Awareness Campaign (www.savingteeth.co.uk). Prompted by the widespread lack of awareness amongst patients that many teeth can be saved by endodontics, the campaign will provide information to patients who have a tooth infection that could result in tooth loss.

According to the Adult Dental Health Survey, two million teeth were removed last year but only around half a million root treatments were undertaken. In the interests of dental health, if the natural tooth can be saved through root canal therapy and adequately restored, it should be the first choice.

The campaign will emphasise to patients that a well root-treated tooth covered with a crown can survive for many years if not for the rest of your life, and that if a tooth becomes infected and left untreated, bone loss can occur.

Root canal specialist Julian Webber, a world leader in the field of endodontics, is spearheading the campaign.

'Keeping your natural teeth is often more economical in the long-term as well as being better for health,' said Dr Webber.

The campaign would like to see the NHS recognising and remunerating the additional skills and costly equipment used by specialists and dentists with additional training.