Scots miss target for keeping their teeth

SCOTLAND is falling short of its dental health targets, new figures show.

A target of 90 per cent of adults possessing some of their natural teeth by 2010 was set by the previous Labour/Liberal Democrat administration five years ago.

But figures released this week show only 88 per cent of Scots aged 16 and over possess some of their natural teeth.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie said: "Scotland's healthy teeth target is being badly missed by the SNP.

"One in eight Scottish adults have no natural teeth at all. This figure has not changed since 2008. The statistics are worse among older women. Sixteen per cent of women aged 55-64 have no natural teeth.

"Liberal Democrats have consistently warned the SNP government about the need to increase the number of dentists, especially in rural areas."

The figures also show that 29 per cent of adults in Scotland have less than 20 teeth, while a quarter of those aged 45-54 and 44 per cent of those aged 55-64 have less than 20 teeth.

Grown adults have 32 permanent teeth.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "The survey results show that the improvement made in the number of adults retaining their natural teeth is being maintained. We are hopeful that improvement will continue towards the target for 2010.

"In 2003 ministers changed the reporting figure to include all adults over 64.

"We have seen an increase of over 370 NHS dentists since 2007. The number of adults registered with a dentist under NHS arrangements increased from over 1.8 million to over 2.7 million."