Access to dental care in St Austell, Cornwall may be boosted by the launch of three new dental surgeries, according to a local newspaper report.
The St Austell Guardian revealed that Integrated Dental Holdings is hoping to get permission to transform a derelict hairdressing salon into three dentists' surgeries that will cater to around 7,000 of the town’s residents.
The company won a contract to provide the town with NHS dentists earlier this year and is now hoping to serve thousands more.
The move is part of measures by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust (PCT) to invest over a million pounds into dentistry across the county.
Richard Crook from Integrated Dental Holdings said the company is hoping to get a "good reaction" from the council and vowed to continue searching for other suitable properties if permission is refused.
He commented: "There is obviously a need for this service because the Primary Care Trust has tendered for the service and there are always a lot of people looking for a NHS dentist ."
"The amount of patients we will take will build up over a period of time, but it will serve a minimum of 6,000 people and we're hoping to build up to 7,000."
A spokesperson from the PCT explained: "Early this year we launched a new dental strategy and we recognise the fact that access to NHS dentistry is really important to local people."
"As part of the strategy we set out a large sum of investment for this year where over a million pounds has been put into increasing the numbers of NHS dentists and one of those areas where a need for a new practice was identified was St Austell.
"We're very pleased to be going through the process of development with the service and very excited about the new services that will be available for people locally. We're very committed to getting an NHS dentist into St Austell."
