Dental health services in the North East have been boosted by the opening of a brand new £402,000 dental training centre .
Situated at the Mandale Business Park in Belmont, near Durham, the Bourne House dental education and training centre includes a teaching facility of 15 work stations and a ‘phantom head room' which gives trainees the chance to practise their techniques on lifelike mannequins.
Speaking at the opening of the dental centre, England’s chief dental officer, Barry Cockcroft told an audience of dental education officials and North-East health chiefs that such facilities will help ensure that NHS patients have access to increasingly high-quality dentistry .
Malcolm Smith, Postgraduate Dental Dean at the Northern Deanery, commented: "Having access to the finest equipment, cutting edge technology and facilities will give dentists and practice teams excellent facilities in which to maximise their skills to ensure we as a region continue to deliver the very best patient care ."
"The quality of dental training in the Northern Deanery is already recognised as excellent, but once again the NHS in the north east is putting its money where its mouth is and investing in the best training and development opportunities for staff."
He added: "The centre will increase the opportunities available to all dental health professionals training in the north east."
