A PORTUGUESE dentist, known affectionately as Pedro from Porto, today said he had fallen in love with Burnley after spending a year working in the town.

Burnley may not have sandy beaches or all-year sunshine, but Pedro Miguel Dos Anjos Moreira said he now considered the East Lancashire town to be his true home.

Pedro was drafted into Howard Street Community Health Centre, Accrington Road, due to a shortage of NHS practitioners.

He and a colleague's presence in the town has created an extra 2,800 appointments each year in the town.

Pedro, who lives in Laneshawbridge, said: "The people in Burnley and Pendle are so warm and welcoming.

"My only English experience before was in London, where I found the people very distant. It's not like that in Burnley.

"We have a good little team at Howard Street, and we all have the same level of responsibility to the local people.

"I also do some NHS dentistry at Burnley General Hospital, when children or people with special needs require special dental treatment under general anaesthetic. I'm very happy in my work."

Pedro is also happy about the fact that he has met "a very nice English girl" who is a dental receptionist.

He added: "Looking back, coming to Burnley was one of the best things I have done in my life. I'm happy professionally and in my personal life."

Pedro said he found the language hard, and added: "There's American English, the English I learned at school, and there's Lancashire English.

"I'm getting used to the Lancashire accent more and more as time goes on."

The biggest question he gets asked in his new job is: "Why Burnley?"

To which he replies: "Why not?"

He answered an internet advert placed by the Primary Care Trust, which has been working hard on a policy to attract new dentists to the area.

He added: "I wanted to widen my experience, and to work in public dentistry.

"In Portugal, 99per cent of dentistry is private, and I was tired of selling' dental care. I wanted to do something more worthwhile.

"I wanted to work in a town not a city, but to be reasonably near an international airport for visits back home. Burnley was perfect for all that.

"I came over for the interview and made up my mind straight away while I was here. The irony is that I went back to Portugal recently, but now feel that East Lancashire is my home."

In a bid to celebrate his first-year milestone, Burnley MP Kitty Ussher made a return visit to see for herself the progress made.

She said: "It was good to see what's been happening since I last visited.

"The work being done here is an important step in the overall aim to expand NHS dentistry provision in the town.

"With an additional 8,000 dental slots being phased in from this summer onwards at the expanded Padiham Road surgery in Ightenhill, dental provision in the area is getting better."