New Scots dental school should help to fill the gap

patients may find it easier to find an NHS practitioner to treat them

By Ross Davidson and Cameron Brooks

Published:

PATIENTS in the north-east looking for an NHS dentist have been offered a ray of hope with the opening of the Aberdeen Dental School.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison met Aberdeen University’s first dentistry students at the official opening of the school yesterday.

They will be using a building at NHS Grampian’s Foresterhill site until the opening of the school next October.

The dental school will produce 15 graduates this year and 20 fully-qualified dentists every year thereafter. Graduates will be offered incentives to remain in the region to practise as NHS dentists.

The school, which has received £21million of funding from the Scottish Government and NHS Grampian, will have facilities for radiography and restorative dentistry as well as dental laboratories.

Ms Robison said: “The Aberdeen Dental School will be a centre of excellence for the north of Scotland and an important asset for the whole country. Today's opening proves how serious we in the government are about reversing the long-term decline in NHS dentistry in Scotland.

“Young dentists who train at the school will provide a significant boost to the numbers of trained practitioners in our country, helping to bring NHS dentistry within reach of more and more people.”

North-east Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles welcomed the opening but claimed it would not solve the dental shortage in the north-east.

“This is a step in the right direction, but it is not the solution to the problem, which is what the government seem to think it is. It is not a fully fledged school, it is a post-graduate facility. There are 63 undergraduate students in Dundee and 90 in Glasgow.

“What the government has done is not good enough because the school should be producing at least 60 dental students (per year), not 15.”

Mr Rumbles said he would continue pressing ministers to ensure an undergraduate course was introduced at the school as soon as possible.