New funding worth £75m will help give Scotland a dental service to be proud of, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said today.
New funding worth £75m will help give Scotland a dental service to be proud of, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said today.
Ms Sturgeon said the cash was being given to health boards across the country to help them modernise healthcare provision.
One priority is providing dental centres for independent general dental practitioners (GDPs) working in the NHS.
Decontamination procedures to sterilise equipment in GDP premises will be upgraded and community health centre projects, particularly in rural and remote areas, will also be provided.
In addition, the renovation of existing health centres could be carried out. Teaching and training may also be boosted.
Ms Sturgeon said: "This substantial investment will allow health boards to put in place a range of new and improved health facilities to serve people in communities right across Scotland.
"Above all, it shows that this government is strongly committed to improving dental services, particularly in areas where registration rates are currently unacceptably low.
"Too many people in Scotland still don't have access to an NHS dentist and we are determined to reverse the years of neglect and bring NHS dentistry within reach of those who currently don't have access."
Recent figures showed that just over half of all adults and almost three-quarters of youngsters were registered with an NHS dentist at the end of March this year.
The health secretary described the increase in dental registration rates as "the green shoots of recovery".
"I look forward to seeing the detailed proposals that come forward from health boards as we take the firm action needed to give Scotland a dental service to be proud of," she said.
Ms Sturgeon announced the funding when she visited the Centre for Health Science at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Health boards must now come up with detailed proposals on how they plan to spend their share of the money.
The funds are being made available over the next two years, with £35m in 2009-10 and £40m in 2010-11.
Health boards had already been allocated £167m to modernise primary and community care premises for 1999 to 2008.
