Not quite perfect smile as rise in NHS dentists offset by fall in adults able to access treatment

Published on Wednesday 1 August 2007 00:54

THE number of dentists working in the health service in Scotland increased last year, but the number of adults able to access NHS treatment is still falling, figures showed yesterday.

As of March this year, 2,474 NHS dentists were working in Scotland - up 7.5 per cent from 2,301 in 2006. But in spite of this increase, and an extra 100 million spent on NHS dental services in 2006-7, the percentage of adults registered with an NHS dentist has fallen to 46.2 per cent, compared with 49.9 in 2000.

Child registrations increased slightly from 66.8 per cent in 2006 to 67.2 per cent this year, but are down on the 67.4 per cent seen in 2000.

There were also wide variations between regions. In some areas, less than a third of adults were registered with an NHS dentist.

The British Dental Association blamed the problem on the fact that many dentists treating NHS patients were not getting extra cash because, according to guidelines, they do not have enough NHS patients.

Andrew Lamb, the BDA's Scottish director, said there would not be an increase in adult NHS registrations until all practices treating NHS patients were receiving the additional funding.

Until they did, there would be limited places available to take on new NHS patients.

Shona Robison, minister for public health, said: "We know there are problems with access to an NHS dentist in certain parts of Scotland and we are determined to tackle this."

She said they were also committed to opening a third dental school for Scotland.