Fund for filling gap in 'dental desert'

£1.5M FOR COLLEGE TO BE ESTABLISHED

- BY JAMIE WALLER Local Democracy Reporter

FUNDING for a dental college in Lincoln has been greeted with excitement from leaders. Lincolnshire is considered a 'dental desert' with one of the worst access rates for both NHS and private dentists in the country.

The University of Lincoln has received £1.5m to establish a college that can produce dentists with the much-needed skills, with 30 students starting next year.

It will offer a BSc in dental hygiene and therapy, and a foundation course to help existing dental nurses and other healthcare professionals retrain. The university has described it as the first step towards a full dental school.

Councillors have previously described seeing a dentist in Lincolnshire as a "rich man's game", with people increasingly being forced to turn to private options. Figures published last year revealed only one in four people had access to an NHS dentist in Lincolnshire - below the national average.