Scotland’s oral health gap widens
Report shows "stark and persistent inequalities" between most deprived and most affluent communities
The British Dental Association (BDA) Scotland has warned new data shows that decades of progress on children’s dental health is now stalling.
The latest report of the National Dental Inspection Programme, published today, shows “stark and persistent inequalities” are widening between Scotland’s most deprived and most affluent communities.
Just 58.1% of P1 children in the most deprived areas were found to have no obvious decay experience compared with 90.1% in the most affluent communities; a gap of 32.1%, up from 27.1% in 20241.
The report says that since 2003 obvious decay experience has declined, with the Childsmile preventive programme playing a central role since its launch in 2006, but progress has stalled since the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, the BDA secured changes to the system in which NHS dentists work. But, it said, there remain question marks over whether the level of change will be sufficient to keep practices financially sustainable and narrow inequalities of both access and outcomes. The professional body is advocating a fully funded workforce plan to ensure Scotland has the dental professionals it needs.
Gillian Lennox, Chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee, said: “Few things expose the divide between rich and poor as starkly as the state of our children’s teeth.
“No one at Holyrood should accept this as inevitable. We’ve seen decades of progress closing this oral health gap, and there can be no complacency here.”