Dentistry services remain below pre-pandemic figures in last quarter

Dentistry services provided to adults remained below pre-pandemic levels in the quarter to June, according to latest figures.

Data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) showed that during that quarter, there were 751,770 NHS General Dental Service (GDS) courses of treatment given to adults in Scotland.

This was an increase of 51.2% compared to the previous quarter.

However, the PHS report stated: “Despite climbing in recent months, activity levels remained around three quarters of pre-pandemic levels.”

More than a fifth (22.2%) of adult treatments authorised were for triage activity, such as telephone advice and issuing prescriptions.

During the quarter ending June 2022, there were 219,245 GDS courses of treatment given to children aged under 18 in Scotland, an increase of 83.4% compared to the previous quarter.

PHS said this increase highlights the impact of the recent change in claiming rules permitting new additional treatment claims which were previously not counted.

More than one quarter (27.8%) of claimable dental treatments provided to children were for examinations or provision of a care and treatment summary report.

NHS dentists can provide a wide range of treatments to patients which dentists can then claim payment for.

Not all treatments are claimable for children, with those such as scale and polish and other minor treatments covered by the registration fee the dentist receives.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “A record number of people are registered with a NHS dentist, more than 95% of the population of Scotland.

“These statistics continue to show that considerable progress has been made in ensuring access to NHS dental services and oral health improvements.

“Over 1.1 million NHS adult and child examination appointments have been completed, since April to August this year.

“This shows an increase of 66% on adult examinations alone compared with the same period in 2021.

“Across key treatment items NHS dental services is at comparable levels of activity to levels last seen before pandemic restrictions were introduced.

“The Scottish Government has provided over £150 million of financial support to date to maintain the capacity and capability of NHS dentistry.”

David McColl, chairman of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: “Despite the Scottish Government’s attempts to pretend otherwise, NHS dentistry has not returned to anything resembling ‘business as usual’.

“We face an unprecedented backlog, with patients now requiring more extensive treatment that all too often dentists are delivering at a loss.

“Ministers need to be honest with the public. This service is on a cliff edge. It will take meaningful reform to bring it back from the brink.”