One in 17 Scots forced to have a tooth removed in the last year

Published on Sunday 31 May 2009 22:13

SCOTLAND'S dental record is so bad that one in every 17 Scots had to have a tooth removed last year, according to new figures released yesterday.

A total of 300,000 people had tooth extractions on the NHS in 2008, the first increase in five years. Of these, 63,000 were under the age of 18 and 2,500 were under the age of four.

A total of 2,000 children had to go to hospital for extractions with some having to have more than one tooth pulled.

There is also evidence that some small children are still having all their milk teeth pulled because widespread tooth decay has set in so early in life.

Ross Finnie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, who secured the figures in parliamentary answers, demanded government action.

He said: "These figures show the cost of Scotland's poor oral health record and infatuation with sweets and sugary drinks. We know that almost half of Scotland's children and almost a quarter of adults are not registered with an NHS dentist.

"The Scottish Government needs to take steps to change this. We need more dentists and better education for children so that they can learn to take better care of their teeth."

The Labour-led Scottish Executive introduced a target of 60 per cent of Scottish children to be free of tooth decay by 2010, a target which the Scottish Government said yesterday it was well on the way to achieving.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "With the highest ever number of adults and children registered with an NHS dentist – and more people being seen by a dentist – there is a greater likelihood of those people accessing treatment.

"The most recent National Dental Inspection Programme survey shows that the dental health of primary one pupils in Scotland has reached the highest levels ever recorded.

"There is excellent progress toward the 2010 target of 60 per cent of primary one pupils showing no signs of decay, with seven NHS Boards having already met or exceeded targets."

The SNP administration introduced the Childsmile scheme in 2007, offering early intervention to prevent children from developing tooth decay.

Under that scheme, every child in Scotland will be provided with free fluoride toothpaste and toothbrushes on at least six occasions up to age of five. Also, every child who attends a nursery will be offered free daily supervised toothbrushing with fluoride toothpaste from the age of three and children in primary school in the most disadvantaged communities will be offered daily supervised toothbrushing in both P1 and P2 classes.

This pro-active preventative policy is designed to arrest what is one of the worst records for tooth decay in the world, particularly in children. A combination of a sugary diet and poor parenting has been blamed, with Glasgow having by far the worst record in Scotland.

No-one from the British Dental Association was available for comment yesterday, but the association has called in the past for more radical measures to improve dental health.