The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Warnings over future of dental practices
Further warnings surrounding Scotland’s NHS dental services have been issued amid fears hundreds of practices could go bankrupt.
Despite lockdown easing elsewhere, dentists are still unable to offer full “routine” work for patients.
Limitations to the amount of PPE each dentist has received, as well as a ban on aerosol tools like high-speed drills, have left professionals fearful for their practices’ future.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the profession had not been “overlooked” but acknowledged it had been
“very difficult for dentists” as the pandemic played out.
Dr Mohammed Samad, chairman of the Scottish Dental Practice Owners’ Group (SDPO), warned the predicament could put the future of NHS dental services at risk of disappearing.
He said: “Polling of our membership demonstrates that Scottish dental practice owners have no confidence that the established consultation arrangements between Scottish Government and our existing representative body (SDPC), are fair or effective.
“SDPC themselves have acknowledged on a number of occasions that they find the Scottish Government unwilling to negotiate, with the Scottish Government tending to simply dictate their terms.”
The government’s clinical director, Professor Jason Leitch, said talks between dental professionals and the government are still taking place and support is available. He said: “The chief dental officer has engaged with the British Dental Association’s (BDA) representative body – that’s the right thing for him to do, it is the representative body for dentists and has been for decades. The SDPO is new, they have a particular set of challenges that we accept and the chief dental officer is keen to hear from them and engage with the broad profession to try and find our way through some of these really challenging elements.”