Hundreds of new NHS dentistry places have been created in Alton thanks to money drawn from local housing developments.
Alton Dental in Anstey Road has expanded its practice thanks to £210,000 of developer contributions awarded by East Hampshire District Council and Alton Town Council.
This led to more than 600 new NHS places and 500 annual emergency appointments - one-off appointments for patients referred by 111 services who may be suffering from toothache, bleeding or trauma.
Developer contributions are payments from house builders to improve local infrastructure and facilities.
East Hampshire District Council contributed £190,000 of Community Infrastructure Levy, with Alton Town Council putting in a further £20,000.
The practice, run by Hardeep Safri, has expanded into vacant premises next door, increasing capacity and allowing many more NHS patients to register for care.
Mr Safri said: "I am very grateful to East Hampshire District Council and Alton Town Council for granting the developer contributions towards this project. There is a huge demand for NHS patient spaces but creating the capacity to open them up can be very complicated.
"The developer contributions that we received made this project possible and will provide a fantastic new facility for the people of Alton."
“With increasing numbers of homes we need to direct developer contributions towards improving key local infrastructure, and health provision is a vital part of that.
“This is exactly what developer contributions are for, and as more homes are built in the district we will be able to gather more contributions to fund further facilities.
“It’s fantastic that Alton Dental had the opportunity to expand its practice and take on more NHS patients. We are lucky to have an NHS training practice in Alton that is able to do this. My thanks to Hardeep and his team for delivering this expansion.”
Alton town mayor Cllr Annette Eyre said: “Alton Town Council is pleased to have been able to support the expansion of NHS dental provision in the town.”