Kenneth Gibson MSP has welcomed the latest figures which show that 352,534 people are now registered with dentists in NHS Ayrshire and Arran and over 5 million across Scotland.
The percentage of adults registered with a dentist in Ayrshire has gone up from 94.2% to 95.8% during the last year, while the number of children registered has also risen from 91.3% to 95.8%.
The national figure has nearly doubled since the SNP came to power in 2007, after the previous Labour/Lib Dem administration oversaw a decline in registrations from 2,702,992 in 2000 to 2,560,087 in 2007 including 42,841 fewer children registered.
Commenting, SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said:
“The latest dental registration figures show the SNP Government’s continued progress in making year on year in improving oral health in Ayrshire and across Scotland.
“Since the SNP came to power in 2007, the number of people registered with a dentist has nearly doubled across Scotland, to 5,000,486, following years of slow decline under Labour and the Lib Dems.
“With 967,961 children now registered with an NHS dentist, it is clear that we are building the right attitudes to improve oral health for the next generation as well.
“People across Ayrshire and Arran are benefiting from this improvement including 64,735 children.
“The new oral health improvement plan will show how we intend to keep this good work going, and ensure that people are not only registering with a dentist, but also getting regular check-ups.
“Our oral health is vital for our wider health and wellbeing and it is great to see people taking steps to ensure that they are able to access an NHS dentist in communities across Ayrshire and throughout Scotland.”
ENDS
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