UK's health service, NHS has lost about £ 73million to fraudulent claims by NHS dentists during just one year as a new contract made it possible for the dentists to claim money for the service that has not been provided by them.

The study estimate shows that the dentists may have made as many has one million false claims for treatment of NHS patients during 2009-2010. The situation has been blamed on dental contract that was introduced in 2006 by the Labour government.

It is believed that the contract allows dentists to make claims for more expensive treatment than what was actually provided to the patients. Under the banding system, the dentists do not make claims for treatment like filling or crown, but combine treatments together and this allows them to claim for service not provided to the patients.

NHS Protect, the watchdog, has pointed out that if the level of fraud claims continue to exist until 2014, it would cost a further £146.4million to the taxpayer's money. The figure does not include the five earlier since the contract was introduced in 2006. It was found that about one in ten claims were for clients that did not exist and one of the claims was for a person who serving a prison sentence at the time.

Health minister Lord Howe said, "Taxpayers will rightly be appalled at the £70million price tag they are paying for Labour's botched stewardship of NHS dentistry. This is money that should be spent on patients. It is a great shame that a minority of dentists have been able to game a complex and confusing contract."