THOUSANDS FORCED TO TURN TO PRIVATE DENTAL CARE SINCE 2021 

By Lucy Ashton

Desperate patients across the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area face “handing over their savings in agony” as new figures uncovered by Scottish Labour revealed that at least 16,366 people have left NHS dentists for private dental care since 2021.  

The figures show a huge increase in the numbers of patients going private in just four years, according to the Freedom of Information request submitted by Scottish Labour. This is unlikely to represent the full scale of the trend as some numbers are not available for earlier years.  

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde saw the biggest exodus of all health boards, with 9,723 people leaving NHS dentists to go private in 2022 alone.

The full scale of devastation to NHS dentist services is likely to be even more dramatic as not all Health Boards record the number of patients leaving in this way.   

While NHS dental care fees are capped, private dental health fees are not, where a filling may be four times as pricey.  

Separate figures show the number of patients leaving NHS dental practices has increased dramatically, even accounting for relocations and deaths.

Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, right, said: “The fact that patients are suddenly paying quadruple the cost for dentistry in a cost-of-living crisis suggests Scots are handing over their life savings and pensions just to get the treatment they desperately need to relieve themselves of severe pain. 

“This is what privatisation looks like – those who can, pay for a private dentist; those who can’t, suffer without access to an NHS dentist when they need it.

“A number of my constituents have reported problems in accessing an NHS dentist and I know how desperate they are for relief from their dental pain – but they should not have to choose between paying for a private dentist or having no dentist at all.

“NHS dental care has rotted away under the SNP when we need to be encouraging more dentists to work for the NHS so that everyone is able to register as an NHS patient.

“Scottish Labour want to end the postcode lottery for access to NHS dentistry so that everyone can get the treatment they need when they need it.”

Number of patients who have left NHS dentists to opt for a private dental plan 

*Data collated from responses to from Freedom of Information requests by Scottish Labour.

**NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not record data by broken down by category in 2019 and 2020.
***NHS Forth Valley were unable to provide information prior to 2023 due to a change in the recording method.

NHS Scotland data on patients deregistering from an NHS dentist in the last five years.  

Data provided by NHS Scotland. (NHS Scotland Caveat: Patients can become deregistered for a number of reasons including a patient opting to go for a private dental treatment plan, a patient dies, a dentist no longer wishes to work with patient, a patient wants to go to another NHS dentist, patient fails to pay dental fees etc.)

A filling in 2022 cost £8.44 from an NHS dentist but £52 from a private dental practice in Edinburgh https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/scotland-nhs-private-dentist-common-23645058