It was all smiles for Mrs Stephanie Dymond recently, after she became Holsworthy NHS Dental Care's first patient. The new practice, which is supported by NHS Devon, opened its doors to NHS patients on October 1. NHS patients will benefit from state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment including LED fibre-optic illumination and a computerised digital imaging network for intra-oral photographs and radiographs. There is also a central decontamination and sterilisation facility designed to the very latest Department of Health standards. Holsworthy NHS Dental Care is the first dental practice in Britain to have a digital X-ray scanner using imaging technology developed at the European particle physics laboratory at Cern in Switzerland. This equipment which will take 300 individual images a second in a single scan, uses a cadmium telluride sensor to convert all this detailed information into a complete diagnostic picture which is up to 300 per cent clearer than conventional systems. The Holsworthy area has over 3,000 patients who cannot find an NHS dentist and thanks to NHS Devon the new practice has been established to help fill this need. The practice offers NHS dental services to patients in Devon and North Cornwall through a carefully managed waiting list which can be accessed by telephoning the NHS Devon dental helpline on 0845 0020034, by e-mail to [email protected]">[email protected] or by writing to Devon Dental Helpline, Devon Dental, PO Box 524, Exeter, EX2 8PF including the full name, address, date of birth and telephone number for each patient wishing to join the Holsworthy practice.