"dental register"

In May 2009,my friend arrived at her Dentst surgery for her check up,only to find a note on the door saying it was closed for buisness.the same day she filled in the NHS form to register for another dentist and also phoned up to register on the data base.In July 2010 after 16 month waiting for a place with a dentist she decided to phone the NHS to confirm her place on the register,only to be told they had no record of her application either by letter or phone. I myself phoned my own NHS dentist this morning for a six month checkup only to be told that there is no dentist available ,due to shortage,and that they will contact me in the future when one becomes available. Please NHS what on earth is going on