Lancashire university students offer free dental operations

The students are all qualified dentists who are now studying for a masters degree in oral surgery

Students are offering free dental surgery to people who need complex operations on their teeth.

University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) dentistry students will be able to remove wisdom teeth and buried roots.

The students are all qualified dentists who are now studying for a masters degree in oral surgery.

Peter Dyer, clinical senior lecturer in oral surgery, said the students were "just trying to help".

He said they were "learning to be specialists so that they can take the skills that we teach them back into practice," he said.

He said surgery included "the removal of difficult teeth, like those that are very close to the sinus in the upper jaw", which was "not routine dentistry".

The students will not be offering routine check-ups.

The free local anaesthetic procedures will be carried out on Wednesdays on patients aged 16 and over, by students who have at least five years' training.

Mr Dyer said there are currently more than 3,000 people in Lancashire waiting for NHS dental treatment.

"We're not in any way trying to compete with the NHS, we've got fantastic dentists in our area," he said. "We're just trying to help."