The Guardian is headlining this claim today:

NHS dental services are not fit for purpose and need urgent reform, according to MPs who have warned that people are resorting to DIY treatment using pliers. Rachel Power, the chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “Our helpline takes many calls from patients who can’t find an NHS dentist, live in so-called dental deserts where there simply aren’t any NHS dentists, or are bewildered by the charging system.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/14/mps-demand-urgent-reform-nhs-dental-services-report

BBC UK is headlining this story too but BBC Scotland seems less interested.

Could this be why?

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?

But, but, but, wait! Remember the 95.4% registered with a dentist in Scotland, above?

Surely some BBC Scotland researcher has had the calculator out and found that 4.6% of Scots means 250 000 are not registered with a dentist! Lisa Summers shouts “Bingo! Now, contact B&Q for an estimate of how many folk will have a spanner and get onto Kaye Adams to have her make a call for listeners who have, who know of or who’re prepared to pretend they know someone who lives next door to someone who has an uncle that all the weans say pulled his own teeth out with a spanner! Get them on the show”