A NEW dental service has been officially opened to treat Nelson folk not registered with an NHS dentist.

Hundreds of residents and families in the town will be able to make use of the state-of-the art dental centre that is combined with a new HQ for child-centred community services.

The double-headed project designed to improve both oral health services and family support in the Bradley and Whitefield parts of the town is housed at Trafalgar House, in Booth Street.

The Pendle Personal Dental Service will provide emergency and short-course treatment.

It was opened yesterday by Pendle MP Gordon Prentice.

It is among a range of measures being used by the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust (PCT) to help patients unable to register with a NHS dentist, a figure that has risen by 21,000 in three years due to dentists retiring or going private.

More than 157,000 people out of a population of 249,000 are not registered.

Two dentists will be based at the centre but no new patients will be able to register.

Instead, patients with dental problems can phone NHS direct and will be referred there, with 12 appointments a day. Similar centres already exist in Barnoldswick, Burnley and Rossendale and the PCT hopes to expand the centres to allow more people to benefit.

The other part of the partnership initiative gives an administrative home to the area's successful Sure Start scheme, which was set up as one of the first projects in Lancashire County Council's flagship projects less than three years ago.

An afternoon is set aside each week to give children who are registered with Sure Start regular check-ups and treatment.

Representing the scheme at the opening, Programme Manager Helen Mountford attended alongside the Mayor of Pendle, Mohammed Iqbal and council representatives.

David Peat, chief executive of the PCT, said: "It has not been easy to come up with suitable premises for the joint initiative, but this is a fine additional use for a building which used to be the catering wing of Nelson and Colne College.

"We hope it serves local people well, as a centre for both oral health and family needs in the area."

Helen said: "As well as giving us a proper base, we will provide a toy library for local children, and an advice centre for parents, at Trafalgar House."