The North-East’s Dental Crisis is Officially Over, Health Chiefs Say
Health chiefs in the North East have officially declared that the region’s dental crisis is finally over, after a “historic” rise in patient numbers was recorded.
The declaration comes as NHS Grampian’s chief executive, Malcolm Wright, set the sights of the health board on more “ambiguous” goals, such as registering 46,000 more people with dentists in the area.
Mr Wright also joined with Jonathan Iloya, the health board’s lead consultant for dental public health, in a pledge to fight mouth cancer.
The latest figures reveal the amount of people registered with an NHS dentist in the region has jumped from 37.2 percent in 2007 to 73.6 percent. 87.4 percent of children are now signed up too.
215,000 new patients have registered at a North East dental practice since 2008. Mr Wright thinks the turn around has been caused by a rise in dental facilities in the area, which has bolstered the workforce of dentists, dental therapists, oral hygienists and dental nurses.
He said that the change has been remarkable and he feels that more people being able to register, dental issues being spotted early and fewer extractions and incidences of cavities have made a big difference. Mr Wright added that he thinks it was widely recognised across Scotland that people had compromised abilities when it came to accessing a dentist, so the change has been truly remarkable.
Mr Wright also said that Grampian’s investment in the workforce and the physical investment has led to the dramatic rise in the amount of people registered with a dentist.
11 years ago, many people in Aberdeen had no choice but to queue in the cold winter weather to re-register at Woodside Dental Practice. This was one of the many North East surgeries, including others in Banchory, Fraserburgh and Inverurie, to go private. There were fears that thousands of patients would be left without dental access.
According to Mr Iloya, the health board was forced to “innovate” in the notion of an incoming health crisis that meant a large proportion of the population would be unable to access a dentist. But now seven in ten people are registered with an NHS dentist and oral health has vastly improved. He said that children’s oral health has improved to such an extent that around seven in ten children don’t have tooth decay.
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