A SCOTTISH Government support scheme will hopefully encourage more dentists to come to Dumfries and Galloway amid an NHS exodus from the area.
In recent months, patients across the region have been de-registered from NHS dentists en masse.
And there are warnings that dental practitioners all over the country plan to further reduce their NHS provision in the coming year.
After the issue was raised by South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth, Minister for Public Health Maree Todd revealed a supportive framework was being introduced to try and entice dentists into the region and address the problem.
She said: “I have heard that Dumfries and Galloway has already received expressions of interest for potential grant funding to open new dental practices, which the Scottish Government will absolutely be in a position to fund if applications are successful.”
Mr Smyth highlighted the scale of the issue and noted that no one is currently able to register with an NHS dentist.
He said: “Practices in Dumfries, Annan, Castle Douglas and Thornhill have deregistered 20,000 patients. Crucially, half of those who are registered have not seen an NHS dentist for more than two years.
“Given that the research from the British Dental Association shows that well over half of dentists have reduced their NHS work, what assessment has the Government made of the changes to the whole-time equivalent NHS dentist workforce since lockdown, and what guarantee will the minister give that my constituents will actually get to see an NHS dentist?”
In her reply, Mrs Todd said: “We are working through the backdrop of a pandemic which prevented work in dentistry for nearly a year. We had a whole year of dental students not qualify. And we had Brexit happen.
“The Scottish Government has put in place a framework of support to encourage more dentists to work in remote and rural areas.
“That includes the Scottish Dental Access Initiative which provides capital funding of up to £100,000 for the first surgery, £25,000 per additional surgery to dental providers setting up a new practice, and also we’ve got an enhanced recruitment and retention allowance of up to £37,500 for newly qualified training.
“We put that framework in place to help mitigate the worst effects of Brexit on the reducing supply of dentists to Scotland.”
Speaking after the question session, Mr Smyth added: “More and more dentists are deregistering NHS patients and the very future of NHS dental care in the region is now hanging by a thread.”
