EAST LANCASHIRE residents looking to register with a NHS dentist have been advised to make a 90-mile round trip to Ormskirk.

The extent of the dentistry problem was highlighted when Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans attacked health ministers after one constituent was told he would have to make a similar journey to get free care for his family.

A Brierfield resident revealed she and her husband have to complete an 80-mile round trip to visit their NHS dentist - and when they looked for somewhere closer to home they were told the nearest option was Ormskirk.

Health bosses in East Lancashire this week met to discuss ways of solving the crisis. Initiatives, highlighted by Garry Whittle, public dental health consultant for East Lancashire, include a new salary structure, training dental nurses to become therapists and recruiting dentists from across Europe to take up surgeries at existing practices. Just 52 per cent of children and 41 per cent of adults in East Lancashire are currently registered with a NHS dentist and no practices are currently adding to their lists as they are already at capacity.

East Lancashire has a poor record for dental hygiene due to poor diet and low wages, and the workload has put new dentists off the area. In 2002, when the Dental Health Centre opened in Rawtenstall, more than 1,500 people lined the street in the first day.

Nigel Evans yesterday raised the case of Tim Bird - who recently moved to Sawley, near Clitheroe - during Health Questions in the Commons. Mr Bird, who works for Lucite International, in Darwen, said he had spent three weeks looking for a dentist in the Ribble Valley and wrote to his MP Nigel Evans to vent his anger.

He said: "The nearest dentist where I can get NHS treatment is at the far side of Bolton, 35 miles from where we live and that is just not on. My wife and children have been registered privately because they are well over due for check ups."

Dentistry Minister, Rosie Winterton, told the Commons: "From next year we shall commission dentistry at local level, which means a radical overhaul of the current system. That will ensure decisions on priorities and expenditure can be made by local people."

Gaynor and Geoffrey Taylor, 65, of Brierfield, moved to East Lancashire in 1995 after living abroad but were unable to register with a local dentist.

Gaynor, 59, of Kings Causeway, said: "My husband doesn't want to travel so far now he is 65 and we were advised to call NHS Direct. I called in December, then in February, and was told no dentists in East Lancashire were taking patients. They asked if I could get to Ormskirk."

Adults looking for a NHS dentist can log on to www.nhs.uk or call NHS Direct on 08454647.