New dental practices could be opened across Dumfries and Galloway.
The region’s NHS dental services have suffered a string of blows in recent months, with some practices closing and others de-registering NHS patients.
That has made it all but impossible for people to register with NHS dentists.
But Public Health Minister Maree Todd has revealed the introduction of a support scheme encouraging dentists to move to rural areas may help ease the problem.
When challenged on the matter at Holyrood by South Scotland Labour MSP Colin Smyth, Ms Todd said: “I have heard that Dumfries and Galloway has already received expressions of interest for potential grant funding to open new dental practices, which the Scottish Government will absolutely be in a position to fund if applications are successful.”
Mr Smyth said that the current situation in Dumfries and Galloway means “no one can currently register with an NHS dentist”.
He said: “Practices in Dumfries, Annan, Castle Douglas and Thornhill have de-registered 20,000 patients.
“Crucially, half of those who are registered have not seen an NHS dentist for more than two years.
“Given that the research from the British Dental Association, which warned about this exodus, shows that well over half of dentists have reduced their NHS work, what assessment has the government made of the changes to the whole-time equivalent NHS dentist workforce since lockdown, and what guarantee will the minister give that my constituents will actually get to see an NHS dentist?”
Ms Todd replied: “There is no doubt that there are strong existential forces working on the dental workforce in Scotland at the moment.
“We are working through the backdrop of a pandemic that prevented work in dentistry for nearly a year and impacted on it for quite a period after that.
“We had a whole year of dental students not qualifying, and Brexit happened. In the area that the member mentioned, Dumfries and Galloway, one in two dentists was European.
“The Scottish Government has put in place a framework of support to encourage more dentists to work in remote and rural areas, including in areas of the south of Scotland.
“That includes the Scottish dental access initiative, which provides capital funding of up to £100,000 for the first surgery and £25,000 per additional surgery to dental providers who are setting up a new practice.
“We also have an enhanced recruitment and retention allowance of up to £37,500 for newly qualified training.
She added that a bid would be made to encourage the UK Government to include dentistry in the “shortage occupation list”, which would make it easier for dentists to come from abroad.
