An emergency dentistry centre which has treated thousands of city patients is expected to close within months.

Dentists in Lincoln say they have been notified that the Dental Access Centre, in Dixon Street, Lincoln, is due to be shut, more than 10 years after it first opened.

Officials from NHS Lincolnshire were unavailable for comment yesterday to confirm exactly when the centre would close, despite repeated requests for information by the Echo.

In July 2009, the Echo reported that the service was expected to disappear within 12 months as an insider revealed plans were in place for its closure.

City dentists say they are not surprised by the move and that the centre has served its purpose.

They added that Lincoln was in a better position now to cope with the dentistry needs of the population and more new services were expected soon.

Local Dental Committee chair Nigel Bourne said the service situation had now changed.

"The Lincolnshire Primary Care Trust has done quite a lot of commissioning new practices," he said.

"The access problem for patients was something that happened five or six years ago. The waiting list for people wanting to see a NHS dentists was around 10,000.

"That has been whittled down to next to nothing. The access centre was needed at that time but is probably not needed any more.

"There are more practices in the pipeline at the moment with slightly different contracts which will make access even better for the patients."

Mr Bourne, who works at Oasis Dental Care in Doddington Road, Lincoln, said he was confident this was not a case of a service being lost and not replaced.