Almost 40% of Scottish people who are registered with a dentist have not had an appointment in more than two years, according to Public Health Scotland.
While ministers have previously noted that 95% of Scottish people are registered with a dentist, new data suggests the proportion who have had an appointment is much lower. Of those registered, 177,318 children and 1.8 million adults had not seen a dentist in the past two years. This was 39.5% of the total.
More than 80,000 registered children had not seen a dentist within five years. Nearly one in three (28.8%) of the registered adults had also not had a dental appointment in five years. More than 500,000 adults had not seen a dentist in the last decade.
This data was released by Public Health Scotland following a freedom of information request by the Scottish Liberal Democrats (SLD). SLD leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has urged the government to act on NHS dentistry following the release of the figures.
He said: ‘These figures are proof positive that being registered with a dentist is no measure of accessibility.
‘An astonishing number of children and adults haven’t had recent dental check-ups or appointments. On the SNP’s watch, more than a quarter of P1 pupils are suffering from tooth decay and people are resorting to drastic measures like DIY dentistry, purchasing tools off Amazon to do the job themselves.’
‘Many patients are unable to access NHS care’
A spokesperson for the Scottish government responded to the criticism of its approach to NHS dentistry. They said: ‘Almost 95% of the population are registered with an NHS dentist and 60% of those – 3.1 million people – have seen a dentist in the last two years.
‘Our significant and continued investment in NHS dentistry is supporting high volumes of treatment and ensures more time is spent with patients through enhanced examinations, with 2.6 million being completed between November 2023 and September 2024.’
In October 2024, the BBC found that six Scottish council areas had no practices taking on new NHS patients within three months. Only one quarter of practices across Scotland were found to be taking on new patients within the same timeframe.
David McColl, chair of the BDA’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: ‘The simple facts are many patients are unable to access NHS care, while practices have vacancies they can’t fill. It’s two sides of the same coin.
‘Scotland needs a 21st century service in which dentists would choose to build a career. Ready to shift the focus from treatment to prevention.’
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