A LOT effort has gone into persuading dentists to come to East Lancashire to ease the chronic shortage of NHS places.

The need is urgent because we desperately need more NHS practitioners to help combat unenviable figures for tooth decay especially amongst the young.

Dental health is vitally important but many are reluctant to seek treatment because having teeth filled is not the most pleasant experience. Therefore the whole process needs to be made as convenient as possible.

Having fought to secure government funding to tempt new dentists to the area it looked like a major part of the battle against bad teeth had been won.

But now we hear that bureaucracy has intervened.

People who wanted to register with the new practice in Railway Road, Blackburn, were advised not to call in but to phone NHS Direct.

But when they did this the operators at NHS Direct told them to call at the surgery instead!

The Primary Care Trust says there had been "communication problems" and that NHS Direct staff are to be briefed so they will be able to receive calls from prospective patients after April 11. This mix-up should never have happened and we can only hope it has not put anyone off registering.