Barry Cockcroft, the Government's Chief Dental Officer, opened the city's first dental outreach teaching unit at Beeston Hill Community Health Centre.

Students training to be dentists, dental nurses or dental hygiene therapists will use the hi-tech unit, run by Leeds Primary Care Trust and Leeds Dental Institute.

Student dentists in the final two years of their career will be working at the centre, and patients from across Leeds will be able to apply to be treated by them.

The dentists will be able to carry out most types of routine treatment, such as new crowns, root canal work, simple tooth extractions and the making of dentures.

Doctor Margaret Kellett, Dean of Leeds Dental Institute, said: "If you are interested in treatment at the unit, then speak to your dentist.

"If you are not registered with a dentist, then register your interest with the unit and then we will send for you."

Dr Kellett said the unit had opened as the number of dental students being trained in Leeds had doubled.

Carolyn Nelson, portfolio manager for dentistry at the PCT, said: "The new facilities will provide an excellent environment for students to gain practical experience, as well as offering first class treatment rooms for the Community Dental Team.

The PCT is also holding a toothbrush amnesty in the run-up to National Smile Month, which starts on May 18. The first 750 members of the public who come along to the dental unit at Beeston Hill can swap their old toothbrush for a brand new one.