‘Dental deserts’ – six councils refuse new NHS patients

In August, BBC Scotland News contacted almost 900 dental practices listed on the NHS Inform website to get a snapshot of the situation.

Of the 717 that responded, 185 offered NHS appointments to adults within three months. While only 26 practices offered appointments within two weeks.

At the time the research was carried out, Argyll & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Inverclyde, Orkney, Perth and Kinross and Shetland had no dentists with NHS capacity for new patients, while just one practice in Fife said it was registering NHS patients, with a waiting list of three months.

Three Scottish practices told BBC Scotland News they were registering new NHS patients but that there was a two-year waiting list for appointments.

And five practices said they had waiting lists of at least one year.

A total of 91 practices listed on the NHS Inform website said they were now fully private.

David McColl, chairman of the Scottish dental practice committee at the BDA, said patient access issues were now widespread with a “two-tier system” developing as many practices focus on private work.

He blamed treatment backlogs from the pandemic, recruitment problems and “inadequate government funding” with further reform needed to make the NHS “a more attractive place to work” for dentists.