Three quarters of Scots sign up for health service dentists

Just over three quarters of the adult population have an NHS dentist, with statistics from September showing 75.6 per cent had registered.

For children, the proportion was higher, at 86.1 per cent.

The figures mean a total of 3,053,394 adults and 893,563 children are now registered with a dentist. The Scottish Government said that meant an extra 1.36 million people had registered with an NHS dentist since March 2007.

Other figures showed the dental health of Scotland’s youngsters was improving, with an increase in the number of primary seven pupils with no obvious signs of tooth decay.

A total of 69.4 per cent of all primary seven pupils had no signs of tooth decay in 2011 – up from 52.9 per cent in 2005.

For the first time, all of Scotland’s health boards met the target set for 2010 of having 60 per cent of these youngsters with no obvious decay to their teeth.

However, in the most deprived areas of Scotland, only 53.5 per cent of primary seven children had no obvious dental decay.