BURNLEY is sitting on a dental care timebomb - because too many of town's dentists are getting long in the tooth, it has been claimed.

Nearly a third of Burnley's 23 general dental practitioners are aged over 50 and the town is struggling to attract newcomers, said East Lancashire Health Authority's dental health consultant, Dr Gary Whittle.

And in an area with some of highest rates of tooth decay in the nation, the issue has become a major concern.

"It is quite worrying," he said.

"Over the next 15 years, they will have retired and we are not getting new young dentists coming in."

He added: "We have done our best to encourage dentists to come to East Lancashire.

"But it seems they are aware of the high rates of tooth decay and would rather go to areas with less disease.

"If new practitioners cannot be attracted to the area, the workforce problems will get even more acute."

He said the Government had promised to publish a new dental strategy this year which he hoped would contain something the health authority could use to encourage dentists to come to East Lancashire. Dr Whittle will address Burnley councillors tomorrow night , updating them on dental trends in the town.

His report to the public protection committee shows that only half the Burnley population is now registered with an NHS dentist in the town - a dramatic fall from 42,600 adults to just under 28,000 in the four years to September 1998.

Child NHS registrations dropped from 15,300 to 12,200 over the same period.

The result has been the health authority is receiving many calls from people seeking dentists willing to provide NHS treatment.

One recent three month period alone brought 840 calls, almost all from the Burnley and Pendle areas, he says.

Dr Whittle is hoping to forge links with councillors in a bid to promote better dental health in schools and the community.

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