EVENING dental surgeries will be launched this week in Dumfries and Newton Stewart.
And health bosses hope it will bring extra, albeit limited, capacity to public dental services in the region.
They are being led by the Public Dental Service (PDS), which is currently focusing its efforts on providing emergency treatments to patients in the region who do not have an NHS dentist.
The new services are being described as “a small addition to capacity” and will be run as a test pilot.
Director of dentistry Alison Milne said: “NHS Dumfries and Galloway is acutely aware of the current challenges surrounding access to NHS dental services in the region, in line with the rest of the country.
“A reallocation of funding has now been approved within the Public Dental Service, but while this may help unlock a little extra capacity the additional money does not mean additional staffing.
“Instead, the funding is supporting an adapted model which allows existing staff to work differently, adding some additional clinics during evenings.
“This modest additional capacity is planned to come online next week delivering clinics out of Dumfries and Newton Stewart.”
She added: “But while these evening sessions will hopefully be of benefit to local people and the PDS, it should be understood that this in itself is far from being a solution to the current challenges, and that unless additional dentists are secured, the potential to expand this further is limited.”
