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Professor John Robertson OBA
From BBC Wiltshire yesterday:
The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned of an “unprecedented collapse” in dentistry, with many dentists pulling out of NHS contracts because they are overworked and underfunded. Earlier this month, the Hathaway Dental Practice in Chippenham, said it would no longer provide NHS services to its patients from 1 November. It said the practice had lost four NHS dentists in the past few months, and received no applicants when it put out an advert for replacements.
A report published in March 2023 found less than half of children in Swindon have access to an NHS dentist, or 47.6%. The figure is still higher than the England average of 46.9%, but children in the town are nearly three times more likely to have teeth removed than others across the wider south west.
From NHS dental data monitoring report Quarter ending March 2025 published in May 2025:
5,218,597 people were registered with an NHS dentist as of 31 March 2025 (95.8% of the Scottish population*).
622,519 extensive clinical examinations were paid in the quarter ending 31 March 2025 under the new pay arrangements. In total, over 3.2 million have been undertaken since the NHS dental payment reform was introduced.
In the quarter ending 31 March 2025, children and adults from the most deprived areas (SIMD 1) were less likely to have had contact with NHS primary dental care than those in the least deprived areas (48,028 compared to 56,779 children and 137,040 compared to 166,013 adults). A similar pattern was seen in participation rates across the previous two years.
Clearly those from more deprived areas are not taking up NHS dentistry to the same extent but still have access.
What’s access like in England more widely?
1 in 5 Britons (22%) are currently not “registered” with a dentist. Of those who were not “registered” 37% said this was because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.
Note that access to NHS dentistry is worsening in England. Only 78% in ‘UK’ [England] registered, 17.8% lower than the 95.8% in Scotland. So access to NHS dentistry in Scotland is 22.6% higher (17.8% of 78) than in UK:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmhealth/964/report.html
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admission for children in England, particularly in the 5 to 9 year old age group. In other words they are going into hospital to get their teeth out under a general anaesthetic.
Think about that.
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