NHS Dental Registration numbers up in Scotland
Recent statistics have revealed that more than a million people have registered with an NHS dentist since March 2007.
In March 2011, the number of people registered with an NHS dentist was 3,804,338, which represents an increase of 4 percent over the last 12 months.
Despite the good news about patient registration numbers, the statistics showed clear regional variations, with the proportion of people registered with a dentist varying greatly in different areas; in Grampian the percentage of people registered with an NHS dentist was only 51.4 percent, in comparison to 78.5 percent in Ayrshire and Arran.
Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson, said that the government was working hard to recruit more dentists and encourage dentists to take up positions in underserved areas. Mr Matheson said that the news about patient numbers was great but that improvements still need to be made, such as plans for more practices to open and encouragement of the new training centre in Aberdeen, which will help to produce more dentists to train and work in Scotland.
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