Thousands of Scottish Schoolchildren missing out on Dental Check-ups
A report has revealed that thousands of schoolchildren in Scotland are missing out on regular dental check-ups even though they are free of charge.
The report shows that targets for all five and eleven year old children to have regular routine check-ups have been missed; the main reasons for the missed targets include parents failing to give their permission and children refusing to open their mouths for the examination.
Rates of tooth decay are at an all-time low in Scotland; however, the report has highlighted gaps between different regions in the country. Four health boards, including Clyde and Lanarkshire and Greater Glasgow are trailing behind other trusts.
Andrew Lamb, national director for the British Dental Association in Scotland, said that a large gap had opened between children from poorer areas and children from affluent areas. Mr Lamb said that it was an issue that required urgent attention from the government.
In 2005 an action plan to improve standards of oral health amongst children was launched and one of the main targets was to ensure that all children in primary one and primary seven received a routine check-up from a visiting dentist by the end of 2010. The recent report showed that this target had been missed; only 88.6% of primary one children and 83.2% of primary seven children had check-ups. Mr Lamb said that parents need to encourage their children to participate in the check-ups, as dentists cannot carry out the examination if the child is unwilling to cooperate.
Dr Colwyn Jones, a consultant in public dental health from NHS Scotland, said that oral health was improving across Scotland but more needs to be done to increase the number of children taking advantage of the free check-ups provided in schools.
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