Letter: Dental check

YOUR article on the number of Scots registered with an NHS dentist (30 November) does not get to the crux of the issue of dental access.

What’s important is not how many patients are registered with a dentist and might attend appointments in theory; it is how many patients actually are accessing dental care.

Patients don’t have mouth cancer, tooth decay or gum disease detected because their names are on a list; they have them detected because a health professional looks in their mouth.

The Scottish Government recognises this and publishes details of the number of patients actually visiting the dentist.

It is this figure, which is significantly lower, which is the really important one. Successive Scottish governments do deserve applause for the real progress they are making in oral health, but credit should not be given to an illusion of progress.

(Dr) Robert Kinloch

Scottish Dental Practice Committee

British Dental Association