A hi-tech Bingley dentist is giving patients something to get their teeth into to take their minds off treatment.

Aptly-named David Pulman plays them videos via a futuristic £600 visor and recorder as a form of "distraction therapy".

Patients can bring their own or choose from a collection of tapes including a Queen rock video, Les Miserables, River Dance or even a golf compilation.

But one of the most popular is a tape showing dental assistant Lindsey Crowe, 28, on the TV show Can't Cook, Won't Cook with her partner Craig.

Mr Pulman said: "We don't tend to put films on because people don't like leaving in the middle but musicals and sport work very well.

"Patients think I'm bananas and are usually disbelieving until we turn it on and then they are amazed. They can choose the volume so they can't hear the drill and are in a world of their own."

Mr Pulman, 56, has been a dentist for 33 years - 25 of them in Bingley, where he runs the Hillside Dental Practice in Park Road. He initially tried hypnosis on very nervous patients and then experimented for over ten years with soothing music from a Walkman.

He then allowed patients who needed lengthy operations for crowns, bridges and multiple fillings to watch TV. But that caused a few problems.

Mr Pulman said: "On one occasion the world snooker championships were on and this chap was enjoying the contest when he suddenly let out a roar of pain.

"We stopped and asked what the problem was. He said: 'Aaaargh! Jimmy White's just missed the pink.' He was totally engrossed by it."

Mike Hitchen, 61, of Gilstead, a patient of Mr Pulman's for 25 years, took along a copy of The Return of the Pink Panther to view while having a filling and tooth extracted.

He said: "I was completely oblivious to any other external input although I had to turn the sound up when the drilling started.''

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