More children in Scotland have brighter smiles, with 67% of primary one children having no obvious sign of tooth decay.
The latest figures from the National Dental Inspection Programme show that for the first time all NHS boards have met the Scottish Government target for 60% of primary ones to have no obvious signs of decay.
It represents an overall improvement across Scotland of 3% since 2009/10.
Public Health Minister Michael Matheson said: "It is fantastic news. This tremendous progress is the result of our significant investment in children's dentistry. It is also tribute to our work with the British Dental Association and the commitment of dentists, nursery and school staff."
Scotland's chief dental officer, Margie Taylor, is encouraging parents keep sweets until mealtimes as much as possible.
She said: "Children develop their oral health habits at a very young age. So it is important that parents remember their healthy habits and practices throughout the festive season to ensure their children enjoy a lifetime of beautiful smiles."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article