FURIOUS health chiefs were down in the mouth today after receiving a giant cash snub from the Government.

East Lancashire has one of the worst dental health records in the country, yet its bid for money to improve oral health has been rejected.

And the anger of East Lancashire Health Authority bosses has been fuelled by the revelation that it was the only district in the North West to have an application turned down.

The rebuff comes in the week Dr Stephen Morton published his 1996 Public Health Report for East Lancashire confirming the district has an appalling dental health record.

Health chiefs applied for £37,000 from the Department of Health's campaign for additional oral health training.

Cash would have been spent on improving the knowledge and skills of health visitors and school nurses.

But the application was not considered because it exceeded a ceiling set by the Department before it examined all bids.

The health authority has complained bitterly to the Department of Health.

Dr Gary Whittle, consultant in dental public health in East Lancashire, said: "Our bid contained more ideas than anybody elses - because we have the most decay! "We are the only health authority in the North West to get absolutely nothing - despite our very poor dental health."

"I have spoken to dental officers from the Department of Health and I think they have realised they have made a mistake, although it is too late to rectify it."

Other health authorities in the North West are understood to have received an average of about £10,000 each.

The 1996 Public Health Report confirmed that East Lancashire had one of the poorest dental health records in the UK.

The Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale area was at the bottom of a national league table for 14-year-olds with missing, decayed or filled teeth

Five-year-olds in East Lancashire had an average of more than three teeth missing, decayed or filled.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.