Scotland has something extra to smile about. A £75m government investment is going to imprive dental services across Scotland .
Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary, stated that the money would provide Scotland with a state of the art dental service . The funding signifies an increase of more than 17% over the following two years.
New dental centres will be established across Scotland, with independent general dental practitioners (GDPs) working in the NHS and the upgrading of decontamination facilities in GDP premises.
The funding will also go towards community health centre projects, other new GP and community facilities, particularly in rural and remote areas, renovation of existing health centres, teaching and training facilities, as well as outreach services.
The huge investment will enable health boards across Scotland to establish a vast range of improved health facilities, serving people in all communities.
A new £21m dental school in Aberdeen will start training students in October. More people have already started to register with dentists across Scotland.
Tthe proposed Inverness dental centre is going to provide treatment for 3,000 patients in the Highlands and will help train dental students.
Recent research highlights that on 31 March 2008 the percentage of children registered with an NHS dentist increased 6.6% in a year to 73.8%, with adult registrations having increased by 6.9% to 53.1%.
Meanwhile, the number of high street dentists in Scotland increased by 102 to 2,576.
NHS boards across Scotland are compiling detailed proposals as to how they would like to spend their allocations, with a view of obtaining ministerial approval.




