Scandal of Scots not on NHS dental list

Published on Wednesday 31 October 2007 00:57

MORE than half of adults and almost a third of children are not registered with an NHS dentist, new figures show.

The number of people who have an NHS dentist increased slightly - by 0.3 per cent - between March and June this year. But the figures, from ISD Scotland, showed that only 46.5 per cent of adults and 67.5 per cent of children were registered with an NHS dentist.

There were also wide regional variations, with just 27.7 per cent of adults in the Highland area registered, compared with 55 per cent in Glasgow.

For children, rates varied from 37 per cent in the Western Isles to 73 per cent in Tayside.

Shona Robison, the public health minister, said: "While I am pleased that there have been increases in both child and adult dental registrations in the last quarter, we know there is a lot more work to be done."

Tory health spokesman Mary Scanlon said: "To have a third of all children and over half of adults not registered with a dentist is a disgraceful state of affairs. Over the past seven years there has been a fall of 45,644 children registered, and 81,695 adults."

Statisticians yesterday also expressed concern about the rate of stillbirths in Scotland. Figures showed that there were 5.3 stillbirths per 1,000 births in 2006 - the same as in 2005. ISD Scotland said that the stillbirth and infant death rate was now the lowest ever recorded. But they said it was a cause for concern that the stillbirth rate had remained static in the past decade and a more detailed study was needed.

Their report also found that less than 50 per cent of stillbirths and neonatal deaths underwent autopsy, despite doctors telling families of the knowledge gained from such autopsies.