Uneven smile as number with NHS dentist up but patchy

Published on Tuesday 28 July 2009 22:01

THE number of people registered with an NHS dentist has risen 14 per cent in a year – but wide variations persist across Scotland, figures showed yesterday.

By the end of March more than 3.3 million people in Scotland had an NHS dentist, up from 2.9 million a year ago.

But the statistics revealed that levels of registration varied around the country, with rates for adults dropping as low as 35 per cent in some areas.

The figures, published by ISD Scotland, showed that 61 per cent of adults and 80 per cent of children were registered with a dentist at the end of March – compared with 53 per cent and 74 per cent a year ago.

But rates vary across the country, with a low of 54 per cent for children in the Western Isles and a high of 90 per cent in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

For adults, the percentage registered with an NHS dentist ranged from 35 per cent in Grampian to a high of 75 per cent in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Opposition parties said parents faced a "postcode lottery" trying to secure an NHS dentist for their children.

Six health boards have yet to meet a national target for 2010-11 of 80 per cent of three-five-year-olds registering with an NHS dentist. Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie said it showed the "embedded inequalities" in the provision of dentistry in Scotland.

Almost 222 million was spent on NHS dental care in 2008-9 – up 10.2 per cent on the previous year. The average cost of treating a child increased from 54 to 60, while the cost for an adult went up from 35 to 39.

Public health minister Shona Robison said the rising NHS registrations "indicate that the measures we have taken to improve access are working".