A DENTIST from Blackpool thinks he's found an answer to Greater Manchester's unhealthy teeth - and it comes on wheels.

Dr Tamer Alaredy, who runs a surgery in Blackpool, has managed to cram everything he needs for the most complex treatments - and even a waiting room - into the country's first mobile dental unit.

He's already started to treat patients across the region, and aims to have his "tooth truck" on the road full-time by the year's end.

"There's nothing I can't do in there that I could do in a normal surgery," said Dr Alaredy.

"It's specially equipped to have everything I need, it's just in a smaller space.

"I came up with the idea of the mobile surgery to help people who can't get out much, like old people and those who need constant care.

"It was harrowing to go out to these places and have to see people in a great deal of pain, but who could not easily get to my surgery.

"I could only carry enough equipment to pull a tooth out, but that isn't enough to mean proper dental care in this day and age."

Derelict

He set about designing and commissioning what he believed to be the country's first mobile dental surgery, only to find that Preston primary care trust had a similar unit lying derelict in a car park.

After buying it in May, Dr Alaredy spent tens of thousands of pounds refitting and updating the surgery unit before taking it out on the road.

It now has a waiting room for up to four people, a state-of-the-art dentist's chair, a sterilising unit and a hydraulic lift. There's even a mechanical stabiliser to make sure the dentist's hand can't slip as traffic whizzes by.

Though he still runs his original practice during the week, Dr Alaredy and an assistant visit several nursing homes at the weekend. "I suppose you could say I'm the hardest-working dentist around, but when I saw people who couldn't get out easily I thought I had to do something to help," he said.

"I'll go anywhere people need me, as long as there's enough parking space and it's safe."

Call Dr Alaredy on 01253 347 953.