Statistics on dental registration for children and adults up to September 2010 have been published by ISD today.
Public Health Minister Shona Robison said:
“I am pleased that there have been increases in both child and adult dental registrations in the last quarter. However, we know there are still problems with access to an NHS dentist in certain parts of Scotland and we are continuing to tackle this.
“Our latest figures show there are record numbers of dentists working in NHS Scotland and I expect this to result in improved access to dentistry across Scotland.
“Last year we announced, capital funding of £82 million through the primary and community care modernisation programme, most of which will be used for the development of NHS dental services – one of our top priorities. This includes thirteen new standalone dental centres across Scotland and two more as part of multi-function health centres.
“We now have outreach training centres in place throughout Scotland including Aberdeen, Inverness and Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Boards now have the authority to appoint directly salaried dentists. We are increasing the number of dental students in training and on January 19 we officially opened Scotland’s newest dental school in Aberdeen. The world class facility will produce 20 trained dentists every year.
“In addition, more than 500 students now receive a dental undergraduate bursary scheme of £4,000 per year in return for commitment to work in NHS dentistry in Scotland.”