A NEW £3.1m dental training practice has opened its doors to patients and students in Burnley.

The Quest Dental Care building in Red Lion Street was handed over by its developers the Eric Wright Group to NHS East Lanca-shire yesterday.

The centre contains 12 dental suites equipped with ultra modern facilities and technology to provide a full range of NHS dentistry.

Health bosses hope it will reach a capacity of approx-imately 10,000 patient places within the next 12 months.

And already the practice said it had had hundreds of inquiries.

The practice will also provide training opport-unities to dentists and ther-apists, in partnership with the East Lancashire Dental Education Centre in Accrington.

The primary care trust said that the “unique development” next to the bus station was part of its commitment to ensuring that the 382,000 people of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale are able to access high quality dental care.

In a statement Pauline Hargreaves, Ian Redfearn and Nicholas Taylor, the partners of Quest Dental Care, said: “We are deli-ghted to be moving in to this state-of-the art facility provided by the PCT.

“This is an exciting and innovative project and we have a fantastic team in place who will provide a first class NHS dental service to the local population, as well as training for all members of the dental team.”

Sharon Young, head of primary care contracting for NHS East Lancashire, said the trust was proud of delivering the new multi-million pound centre in a time of financial difficulty.

She said: “NHS East Lancashire is committed to improving access to NHS dental treatment for its residents.

“This new practice will provide high quality NHS treatment right from the town’s centre. We are del-ighted to be helping people to access NHS dental ser-vices close to home.”

To contact the practice call 01282 644565 or visit www.questhealthcare.co.uk