Addressing the Crisis in NHS Dentistry (Amendment 2)
S6M-07812.2: As an amendment to motion S6M-07812 in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton (Addressing the Crisis in NHS Dentistry), insert at end “; believes that a root and branch reform of dental tariffs is required to ensure that dentists can holistically manage oral health; recognises what it sees as increasingly worrying reports from dentists of poor child oral hygiene, especially in areas with higher deprivation, and a growing requirement for early tooth extractions, and believes that the Scottish Government’s lack of a dentistry recovery plan will only exacerbate this growing health inequality.”

Original motion(S6M-07812):
That the Parliament believes that there is a crisis in NHS dentistry; notes that the number of NHS dental check-ups and treatments being conducted are dramatically below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels; further notes with concern that the number of dentists who are carrying out NHS work has fallen in 11 NHS boards, with the chair of the British Dental Association’s Scottish Dental Practice Committee warning of a “wholescale exodus” from the sector; understands that most dentists are not accepting new NHS patients and that polling has shown that many of those registered have been unable to get appointments; believes that the lack of government action to resolve this is leaving people in pain and will cause wider mouth health issues to be missed, and calls on the Scottish Government to rewrite the NHS Recovery Plan so that it includes dentistry fully and properly recognises the importance of dentists in the course of the recovery, and to urgently reform the funding structures so that dentists can return to taking on NHS activity and enable more patients to be seen.