BOLTON'S Emergency Dental Service has extended its opening hours from weekends only to seven evenings a week because of demand.

The service, based within the Lever Chamber Centre for Health, Ashburner Street, started the new timetable to meet the growing needs of people having difficulty finding a dentist prepared to deal with NHS patients in emergency.

Dental advisor, Val Baron, said: "It is essential to make an appointment. It is also important for patients to realise that the emergency service is a last option only. People must contact their own dentist first."

Patients must ring their own dentist; non-registered patients can call the Health Information Centre on 01204 360084 from 9am to 5pm or out of hours call NHS Direct on 0845 4647. The Emergency Dental Service centre is now open from Mondays to Fridays, 6pm to 9pm, Saturdays and Sundays, 9.30am to 12.30pm.