I seem to have missed this when it was first reported by Public Health Scotland in January 2023:

95.4% of the Scottish population were registered with an NHS dentist as at 30 September 2022.

As at 30 September 2022, 87.2% of children were registered, compared to 87.4% on 30 September 2021.

Nearly all adults living in the most deprived areas were registered with an NHS dentist in September 2022, compared to 91.9% in the least deprived areas.

https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/dental-statistics-registration-and-participation/dental-statistics-nhs-registration-and-participation-24-january-2023/

Read that last bit again? Surely BBC Scotland did this story? See below.

Might I compare with somewhere else?

Directly comparable data are not published but this is from Dental Nursing in 2022:

The Great British Oral Health Report – which combines a public attitudes survey with national data – found that 53 per cent of people had not seen a dentist in the last year, with 56 per cent of those who hadn’t reporting that this was because they weren’t able to get access.

Some 28 per cent of those who had not been for a check-up within the last year could not get an appointment with their usual dentist, 14 per cent said they were unable to register for a routine check-up with an NHS dentist, 16 per cent were unable to afford care, three per cent were unable to travel to a dentist, and five per cent could not get an appointment because their usual practice had closed.

https://www.dental-nursing.co.uk/news/three-in-10-brits-cant-access-an-nhs-dentist

This from the Local Government Association in 2022:

Rural and more deprived areas are more likely to have shortages in NHS dentists than their counterparts, with the top 10 council areas for shortages mainly having higher than average levels of deprivation or higher than average proportion of residents in rural areas.

https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/nhs-dental-deserts-persist-rural-and-deprived-communities-lga-analysis

How has BBC Scotland been covering the 95% and 100% in Scotland’s most deprived areas? They haven’t but they have had this kind of misinformation:

Perhaps they had been reading this from The Dentist, published at the same time as the official data suggesting 100% access to NHS dentistry in the most deprived areas:

Following a debate in the Scottish Parliament on February 8, 2023, the British Dental Association (BDA) has urged the Scottish Government to deliver meaningful reform to NHS dentistry by the autumn, stressing failure to do so will take the service from crisis to collapse.

https://www.the-dentist.co.uk/content/news/scottish-government-urged-to-reform-nhs-dentistry

Makes you wonder if you can trust the media on Scottish affairs doesn’t it?