Oral Health
Oral health and general health are linked. Smoking, diet, alcohol use and income all have a strong influence and poor oral health can be largely prevented. The oral health of Scotland’s primary school aged children has been improving. However, for older generations there is still the legacy of poor dental hygiene and diet and there is no annual survey for adults at a Midlothian level.
Population to dentist ratio, by NHS Board and council area (2018)
Data source: NHS Internal Data - Dental list
Note: ratios are calculated using mid-2016 population estimates for council areas.
- NHS Lothian 1:1,801
- East Lothian 1:1,906
- City of Edinburgh 1:1,624
- West Lothian 1:2,238
- Midlothian 1:2,145
Where dentists work in more than one practice they have only been counted once. Therefore, some figures at council level may over or underestimate the ratio. It is also assumed that dentists will work a whole time equivalent in the NHS. Data on the split between NHS and private treatment is not available at a practitioner level.
Adult oral health in Scotland has improved. The number of people reporting no natural teeth has remained the same as in previous Scottish Health Survey. On the other hand, 10% of adults reported they had experienced dental pain in the past month, 26% felt they needed treatment and 32% had noticed bleeding from their gums occasionally or often.
In the same survey 73% of adults in Scotland reported they had visited the dentist in the past year but 29% reported significant difficulties in accessing dental care which included physical access issues, cost of treatment and travel and difficulty in getting appropriate appointments.
7.9% of the population of Scotland aged 75 years or more are not registered with an NHS dentist as of 30 September 2020 (Public Health Scotland, 2023).
Page updated: June 2024