Dumfries and Galloway's NHS dental registration rate is the worst in Scotland

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Dumfries and Galloway has the worst NHS dental registration rate in the whole of Scotland.

And the number of people who have seen an NHS dentist has fallen by around 2,000 in the past three months.

The figures, released by Public Health Scotland, come on the back of a number of practices across the region, either closing or de-registering NHS patients.

South Scotland Labour MSP, Colin Smyth, said: “These figures are stark but, sadly, given just how many practices across the region have stopped providing NHS services, they will come as no surprise to the many people who have been forced to either pay privately, or simply go without because they can’t afford it.

“NHS dentistry in Dumfries and Galloway has been, and remains, in crisis.

“The Scottish Government has completely failed to wake up to the growing dental crisis.

“Unless they face up to this crisis in our area, it is only a matter of time before no adult in our region has NHS dental care.

“It is the privatisation of the NHS through the backdoor.”

The data from Public Health Scotland reveals that as of the end of September, 94,913 people in Dumfries and Galloway were registered with an NHS dentist – equivalent to 63.8 per cent of the population.

The next lowest rate is in NHS Highland, where 83 per cent of the population are registered. The national rate is 94.6 per cent.

At the end of December last year, 81,212 people in Dumfries and Galloway were registered – 71.8 per cent.

The rate of adults registered has fallen from 70.2 per cent to 60.8 per cent. The number of kids registered fell slightly from 79.4 to 78.1.

The figures also show that in each of the first two quarters of 2024, just over 16,000 people had contact with NHS primary dental care. However, in the third quarter that fell to just over 14,000.

And 429 kids from the most deprived parts of Dumfries and Galloway saw a dentist over the three month period, compared to 621 youngsters from the least deprived areas.

Dumfries and Galloway has been hit by a number of practices closing, or de-registering patients in the past 18 months, including in Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Newton Stewart, Annan and Langholm.

And it recently emerged some patients in Dumfries and Galloway are waiting almost 11 months for a tooth extraction.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway is offering grant funding for dentists able to expand NHS treatment, which has already seen Moffat Dental Practice offer 2,000 new spaces while 12 new places for dentists are being provided at Dumfries Dental Centre at Mountainhall.

Director of public health Valerie White said: “These undergraduate students are able to offer a single course of treatment to patients who are not currently registered with an NHS dentist, with treatment free of charge, and the waiting list for this is currently open and accepting new patients.

“However, while this is a very positive development, we know that this does not address the issue of providing people with regular, ongoing access to an NHS dentist.

“We continue to work to encourage and support dentists to provide NHS general dental services and are working closely with Scottish Government colleagues on these matters.”

The Scottish Government said they were “supporting NHS boards to drive improvements in waiting times” and were “targeting resources to ensure people waiting the longest are treated as soon as possible”.

Responding to the data, Public Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “The latest figures show that NHS dental services are performing well at a national level with almost four million courses of treatment delivered.

“This shows that the significant investment made in NHS dentistry is supporting high volumes of patient access to NHS care and delivering on our aims to sustain NHS dental
services.

“But we are determined to build on this and are supporting the introduction of new dentists and dental practices for areas where access remains challenging.”

NHS Dumfries and Galloway was asked for comment.

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