WARWICK residents used to have to wait more than four years to get a dentist appointment in the public health system.

Now, no one has to wait longer than 18 months.

Figures from the Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service show there are 672 people on the waiting list for a general dental appointment at Warwick Oral Health Service.

And Southern Downs' principal dental officer David Griffiths said no one had been waiting longer than 18 months for an appointment.

He said this had been reduced in the past nine months, down from a four year waiting time.

Dr Griffiths said funding from the Federal Government helped reduce waiting times.

"In Warwick, a campaign of voluntary overtime was undertaken from February to April this year," he said. "This resulted in significant reductions to the waiting list."

He also said a public and private partnership with MacIntyre Dental Services in Inglewood helped provide emergency and general dental treatment to patients from Warwick.

Warwick Oral Health Service attended to about 11,000 treatments during the past year.

An extra 1300 people have now joined the waiting list.

Dr Griffiths said now they had addressed the waiting time for general dental, they could start looking at helping patients waiting for dentures.

As of October 10, there were 136 patients at Warwick Oral Health waiting up to 22 months for dentures.

"As the waiting list for general dental treatment has been reduced over the past 12 months there has been an increase in the number of people waiting for dentures," Dr Griffiths said.

"A key focus of Darling Downs Hospital and Health Service is to maintain a standard of no patient waiting more than the clinically recommended timeframe, two years, for a general dental appointment."

WAIT TIMES

•  672 waiting for dental care in Warwick.
•  Wait times up to 18 months.
•  Last year wait times were more than four years.
•  136 patients waiting for dentures.