THE new NHS dental team that has been set up in Barnoldswick certainly has a novel touch - and it's a female touch at that!

Each one of the nine-strong team is a woman, with six being recruited locally, to back up three Polish dentists.

Together, the team is offering the prospect of 6,000 NHS dental places to residents in the town and, during their first month of operation, the team has received a warm welcome from local patients. And the Polish trio have already learned the traditional Barnoldswick greeting of 'hiya,' much to the amusement and appreciation of locals using the new NHS provision.

The three dentists are contracted initially to work for two years at the NHS Barnoldswick Dental Centre. Between them, they have clocked up nearly 60 years of dental service back in their former practices in Poland - and that was after the usual five-year dental school training.

The new set up has been provided by Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Primary Care Trust, working in conjunction with dental providers Integrated Dental Holdings. It is part of the PCT's pledge to replace NHS facilities lost when one of the town's practices de-registered around 4,000 local people when it went "private only" last year.

For locals, the new dentists' second names might prove a bit difficult to pronounce, so they insist that patients call them by their first names - there are two Joannas, the other one is called Mal.

But that is not a problem for practice manager Julie Hartley, receptionist Lindsey Booth, dental nurses Abigail Hartley-Watson and Helen Rigby, all of whom live in Barnoldswick, and their colleagues Maggie Orfali, who lives in nearby Foulridge, and part-time receptionist Michelle Boult, from Barrowford. They simply call one of the dentists 'Joanna N' and the other 'Joanna G' to easily differentiate.

Mal, who has 30 years of dental experience, and her friend 'Joanna N,' who has 20 years experience, have joined forces to rent accommodation in Earby.

Both are married and Joanna's husband may come over permanently in a year's time, when their youngest child finishes primary school. Their other colleague, 'Joanna G,' who is in her 30s, has eight years' dental service under her belt, has bought a home in Barnoldswick.

Mal said: "We like what we see. The people are so friendly, giving us directions and bits of help. They appreciate us being here as NHS dentists, and we like them.

"We have better salaries than in Poland, but we also see it as an opportunity to gain extra experience. We have a very good team and get on extremely well. My housemate Joanna has had to get used to the English way of driving and your roundabouts, but that's no real problem."

The three of them have also been welcomed by the existing Polish community in the area, including one Polish butcher whose toothache problems were solved.

On the football front, Mal is pleased that both Poland and England are through to the World Cup finals and says with a smile: "A Polish-English cup final would be very nice for all of us, wouldn't it?"