DENTAL CHARGES: Dependent on overall treatment plans

“This time, I asked a very simple question: how much more will patients have to pay as a result of the retention and increase of the charges? She still does not know.

“Is it not the truth that the Scottish National Party not only has broken its promise of abolishing NHS dental charges but is presiding over the break-up of NHS dentistry?”

However, Jenni Minto said: “As I outlined in my previous answer, payments are calculated on the basis of clinical treatment.

“As we made clear in the First Minister’s policy prospectus, the policy must be to sustain and improve patient access to dental services.”

Tory health spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane  told MSPs: “The British Dental Association believes that NHS patient charge revenue is not the most appropriate way of funding NHS dentistry.

“Those on modest incomes who are not exempt from patient charges will have to make the difficult decision whether they can afford to pay for NHS dentistry.

“Is the minister concerned that the Government’s policy on NHS dental charges will have a significant impact on people with such incomes? What will the minister do to prevent the worsening of oral health inequalities?”

He too was left whistling in the dark after Jenni Minto told him: “Our view, as a Government, is that payment reform is important, as is the further work that we will do with the BDA on stabilising dental services and making them sustainable.

“Parliament needs to recognise that paying more for the NHS is a significantly better outcome than paying for private care, where equivalent treatment can be six to 10 times the cost of NHS care.”

Later in the day it was made clear, molar less, when the LibDems issued a statement which said: “Charges for the majority of patients who are required to pay for NHS dental treatment are set to increase from the  beginning of November.

“The cost of a filling will increase to £12.72, while the cost a tooth extraction will nearly double to £28.84. The SNP manifesto for the 2021 Holyrood election promised to abolish dental charges.

Charges for the majority of patients who are required to pay for NHS dental treatment are set to increase from the  beginning of November.

The cost of a filling will increase to £12.72, while the cost a tooth extraction will nearly double to £28.84. The SNP manifesto for the 2021 Holyrood election promised to abolish dental charges.

Mr Rennie challenged the minister to set out what the increases in patient charges will be but she declined to provide details, saying that costs depend on individual treatment plans.

Willie Rennie said: “It was the Scottish Liberal Democrats who abolished charges for dental checks while in government. But under the SNP it is increasingly difficult to find an NHS dentist to get a check.

“NHS dentistry has been left to crumble. In the last three years Fife has lost of thirty dentists who were providing NHS care.

“Ministers might not want to admit it, but the  government’s response to this crisis has been to row back on their manifesto promise to abolish dental charges. They won’t set out clearly to patients what the new increased charges will be.”

Meanwhile, Labour bared its political teeth on the matter when it said dentistry in Scotland is in chaos and warned as waits for dental surgeries continue to soar.

Information drawn out of the government using freedom of information legislation has shown waits for dental surgery has continued to rise across Scotland since 2019.

Of the Health Boards that responded, every single one had seen average waits for dental surgeries rise sharply over recent years, with people typically waiting close to a year for treatment in some parts of Scotland.

The party warned that the pressure on local NHS dentistry has put added pressure on over-stretched hospitals.

Scottish Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, left,  said “Scotland is in the grips of a dentistry crisis, from the collapse of local NHS services to the soaring waits for surgery.

“Patients are being left in pain for months on end waiting for essential dental surgery because of the SNP’s disastrous incompetence.

“The collapse of local NHS dentistry is piling pressure on over-stretched hospitals and leaving oral health to deteriorate. The SNP must end this scandal by supporting local NHS dentistry services and tackling the chaos in our hospitals.”