A businessman is bidding to open an NHS dental practice in Shipley using three Polish dentists.

Jan Bostock, director of health company Reach 2000, believes the ground floor of the company's home at Lambert House, Kirkgate, is ideal for the business.

Bradford North Primary Care Trust is keen to speak to Mr Bostock and could offer him support applying for funding.

But his plan to tackle the chronic shortage of NHS dentists could be blocked by a law which indicates that only qualified dentists can set up a practice.

Mr Bostock, of Shipley, said: "There is a serious demand for NHS dentists and we have got the premises and the staff lined up.

"If we were paying the kind of money a dentist wants over here, it would be a struggle financially.

"That's why I'm looking to recruit from Poland and pay a lower rate which they would be more than happy with."

He said the minimum wage in Britain was treble the amount a dentist could expect to be paid in Poland, meaning his recruits would enjoy a better lifestyle.

But Mr Bostock says he was "banging his head against a brick wall" because the Dentists Act stated that "any individual who is not a registered dentist (or a registered medical practitioner) shall not carry out the business of dentistry".

A spokesman for the General Dental Council said she believed that the act applied to setting up a dental practice.

But Mr Bostock said: "I'm not looking to start delving into people's mouths but to open a business, putting my money where my mouth is.

"It's the people I employ who will be the fully-qualified experts. I will look for a partner who is a qualified dentist if I get confirmation that

the law will not allow me to set up alone."

He said the wording of the dental act was too ambiguous and needed to be reworded or reinterpreted.

The company would not need to change its existing planning permission to set up a dental practice at Lambert House.

Mr Bostock said: "I have heard from good sources that, if we opened an NHS dentist, we would have 2,000 people queuing outside within 24 hours."

Mr Bostock has contacts in Wraclow, south Poland, and he will fly to the town next week to have talks with dentistry staff.

Shipley MP Philip Davies is taking up the issue with the British Dental Association and the General Dental Council in an attempt to clarify the position.

He said: "He has been told he is not allowed to set up because he's not a dentist, but what has that got to do with it?

"I could set up a butcher's shop and not be a butcher but I could employ someone who was. It seems bizarre when we are crying out for NHS dentists."

Julie Winterbottom, associate director of service development for North Bradford PCT said: "We would be keen to have discussions with him about these proposals and could offer him support with applying for funding."

There are currently no dentists within the North Bradford area who are able to take on new NHS patients.

Baildon Dental Practice, on Northgate, announced last month that it would no longer treat adult patients on the NHS. Practice bosses said it found the new Government dental contracts "unworkable".

North Bradford PCT has increased the number of NHS places for patients by 4,410 in the last year and is waiting for approval from the Department of Health to increase by a further 7,437 patients.