A SHORTAGE of dental nurses could hold up plans to create 20,000 new NHS dentist places in East Lancashire.

As the opening of another dental practice in Blackburn was confirmed for June, health bosses warned that the scheme's success depended on dental nurses being recruited.

In a bid to meet the need, Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, was today due to open a new education centre, based in Blackburn, in a bid to combat local short-falls.

Mr Straw will unveil a plaque at the Glenfield Business Park centre and will meet the first 10 students to enrol on the pilot initiative.

Today, health chiefs also appealed to dental nurses on a career break or who took time off to look after children to consider a full or part-time return to ensure that the new practices planned for the area go ahead.

A five-dentist practice will open in Preston New Road, offering 10,000 places. A new practice in Railway Road announced earlier this month will provide another 10,000 places in April.

But Peter Lewenz, commissioning manager for the local PCT, said: "The success of the plan depends as much on the recruitment of dental nurses as it does the recruitment of dentists."

The shortage of dental nurses has been pin-pointed as being a potential problem in filling new and expanded capacity in new health centres coming on stream over the next few months.

All three of the area's primary care trusts for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale; Hyndburn and Ribble Valley; and Blackburn with Darwen have teamed up with Liverpool University's Dental School to run the Glenfield centre where students train to do fillings, take out baby teeth and do scaling and polishing work.

Dr Hilary Whitehead, clinical director of community dental services for East Lancashire, said: "This will help take off a degree of pressure and workload from practicing NHS dentists, freeing them up to see more people and to devote more time on the work in hand."

The first intake of ten existing dental nurses comprise of two from practices in Burnley; one from Accrington; one from Oswaldtwistle; one from Whalley; three from Blackburn; one from Chorley and one from Bamber Bridge.