Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2024
Shocking new figures that were released yesterday have revealed the scale of the crisis in Scottish dentistry. In December last year, the number of patients who were able to see an NHS dentist fell by an astonishing 38 per cent. Gillian Mackay talked about regular check-ups not happening since the pandemic and mainly because of the pandemic. Mr Sweeney said that he was fine during the pandemic and afterwards but has now been waiting for nine months to be seen. I have a constituent in Angus who is in complete despair and significant pain and who cannot find an NHS dentist. That has happened recently and it is happening now.
The number of NHS dental procedures fell by as much as 200,000. The cabinet secretary proudly states that his Government provides free dental care to the under-26s, but the sad reality is that they cannot find an NHS dentist to treat them. Eighty per cent of NHS dentists are no longer taking on new patients, and 83 per cent say that they will reduce their NHS numbers. Is it any wonder that people in Scotland are having to travel thousands of miles for dental treatment? As we have heard today from Willie Rennie, as well as the fact that we have ferries coming from Turkey, people are having to go to Turkey to have their teeth fixed. As Dr Sandesh Gulhane said, people are going to India, and refugees are going from Scotland back to war zones to have their teeth fixed.
Keith Brown said that Neil Gray is one of his most capable colleagues, and Neil Gray said that he recognises the challenges. The SNP Government has decimated NHS dentistry, and patients are paying the price. As Dr Gulhane said, the SNP is tinkering with the problem with an outdated drill-and-fill model.
Sue Webber talked about the fact that oral health is a good indicator of general health. We hear harrowing stories again and again of DIY dentistry, with people resorting to Amazon to purchase tools for self-treatment. [Interruption.] Those are not isolated incidents. According to the BDA, 83 per cent of dentist respondents to a recent survey—