New report shows improvements in Scottish children’s dental health

Dental health has seen a continued improvement among children in Scotland in the last year, according to a new report.

The new Dental Inspection Programme Report 2014 has indicated that the number of children with no obvious tooth decay rose from 67 percent in 2012 to 68 percent in 2014.

A mean of 1.35 teeth were shown to be decayed among Scottish children in 2012, but this fell to 1.27 this year. In the most deprived communities, 53 percent of children had no obvious decay, up from 50 percent two years ago – the biggest increase for any socio-economic group.

Meanwhile, in the most affluent areas, 83 percent of children had no obvious decay – up from 81 percent in 2012.

Scottish minister for public health Michael Matheson said: "It is encouraging that the biggest improvement in dental health was seen in the most deprived communities, demonstrating that health inequalities continue to fall in this area."

The British Dental Association recently called for the UK government to increase its investment in dentistry after a report showed a drop in income levels for practitioners nationwide. The average taxable income for self-employed dentists working in general dental services in Scotland dropped by four percent in 2012/13, which could compromise further efforts to enhance care.