Why 36,000 Scots are 'handing over their savings in agony' amid NHS dentistry crisis

More than 36,000 Scots have left NHS dentists for private care since 2019 amid fears patients are “handing over their savings in agony”, figures have revealed.

SNP ministers have been accused of allowing “privatisation” of dentistry as patients who can afford to are paying to go private to avoid long and painful waiting lists.

The statistics, which are unlikely to show the full scale of the trend, found at least 36,818 Scots have left NHS dentists for private care in the past five years. The Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board saw the biggest exodus of at least 16,366 patients since 2021, with 9,723 people leaving in 2022 alone.

SNP leader John Swinney. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

This was closely followed by Lanarkshire health board, which recorded 8,340 patients dropping off the NHS register to take up private plans since 2019.

While NHS dental care fees are capped, private dental health fees are not, where a filling may cost four times as much. Separate figures show the number of patients leaving NHS dental practices has increased dramatically, even accounting for relocations and deaths.

Paul Sweeney, Scottish Labour’s dentistry spokesperson, said: “The fact that patients are suddenly paying quadruple the cost for dentistry in a cost-of-living crisis suggests Scots are handing over their life savings and pensions just to get the treatment they desperately need to relieve themselves of severe pain.

Thousands of Scots are paying for private dental care (Photo by Rui Vieira/PA)

“This is what privatisation looks like – those who can pay for a private dentist; those who can’t suffer without access to an NHS dentist when they need it.

“A number of my constituents in Glasgow are suffering in agony without access to an NHS dentist and I know how desperate they are for relief from their dental pain, but they should not have to choose between paying for a private dentist or having no dentist at all.

“NHS dental care has rotted away under the SNP when we need to be encouraging more dentists to work for the NHS so that everyone is able to register as an NHS patient. Scottish Labour want to end the postcode lottery for access to NHS dentistry, so that everyone can get the treatment they need when they need it.” 

First Minister John Swinney has recognised “the challenges that exist in dental practice”, but stressed “Scotland has 57 dentists per 100,000 of the population, compared with 42 per 100,000 in England and 46 per 100,000 in Wales”.

He said: “The investment that the Government has made in the National Health Service, and particularly in dentistry, has been an important contribution to establishing and achieving that position. That would not have happened had the Government not given that area priority since we came to office in 2007.

“The government has also undertaken a significant intervention through the introduction of a root-and-branch reform of the NHS dental payment system in November last year. We are in the early days of the implementation of that reform package.

“Through the combination of the investment in the workforce and the investment in that reform package, the government is supporting dentistry in Scotland to achieve the necessary delivery of service to people around the country.”