Dental care

Dr Robert Kinloch (Letters, 1 December) misses the point: the issue is neither patients’ numbers registered with a dentist, nor those able to access dental care. Why should the Scottish Government deserve applause?

Has the number of patients accessing dental care ever been the sign of any drive towards oral health? This is an erroneous misconception of the validity of the curative over the preventative approach. The latter should be adapted by the government to redress the inequitable distribution of health along social gradients, and poverty and most importantly, refashioning the web of governance that structures peoples’ lives. Despite the abject failures of past policies, the government still clings to the belief that its centralised, hierarchial and top-down paradigm is the only way of producing a salubrious and democratic environment. Change should come from within the government.

(Dr) Munjed Farid Al Qutob

Willesden Green

London