Cole-Hamilton: NHS dentistry has been abandoned

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today claimed that the SNP have "abandoned" NHS dentistry, as new figures show that both the number of examinations and the total number of claims made by dentists for conducting NHS work are still far below pre-pandemic levels.

New dental statistics published today by Public Health Scotland reveal that:

• 727,751 NHS dental examinations were paid in the quarter ending March 2023. This represents a drop of 16% from the 872,753 examinations paid in the quarter ending March 2019.
• 964,449 dental claims were made in the quarter ending March 2023, which is a 34% decrease on the 1,462,046 claims made in the quarter ending  March 2019.

Dental claims are submitted by NHS dentists for activity monitoring or to claim payment for treatments and associated fees, such as issuing a prescription or orthodontic interim payments.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: 

"The Scottish Government has abandoned NHS dentistry, leaving thousands of Scots in pain in the process.  

“As if the chaos they’ve created wasn’t bad enough, they are now doubly distracting themselves with a special conference on separation, putting the issues that matter on the scrapheap.

“Deep problems in our NHS are festering because of ministerial disinterest and government inaction, and Scots are paying the price.  As my party previously revealed, a staggering 1 in 5 of those unable to get a dental appointment are doing dental work on themselves.

“Michael Matheson needs to produce a new NHS Recovery Plan, making sure that dentists are properly recognised, and reform the funding structures to enable everyone to be seen.”