Dentists prove more popular with children

Published on Friday 28 August 2009 11:05

THOUSANDS more children in Lothian have registered with a dentist, new figures showed today.

Eight out of ten youngsters aged three to five across Scotland are now signed up with a dentist – an increase of nearly 15 per cent in the past two years.

And Lothian has one of the best registration rates in the country, with 91.5 per cent of that age group on a dentist's books.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison said the statistics showed strategies to encourage more parents to register their children with a dentist were paying off.

A total of 22,477 children aged three to five in Lothian are registered with a dentist, a rise of 14.8 per cent since December 2007.

Ms Robison said: "It is well known that children who get into good oral health habits early on are much more likely to continue these into later life."

Separate figures also show that the number of NHS dentists across Scotland has risen 20 per cent in the last three years.

Lothian has 471 dentists, an increase of 19.2 per cent on the figure in March 2006.