Oral Health & Dental Services for Children- Needs Assessment Report Launched
At a meeting at Stirling University today the Scottish Dental Needs Assessment Programme (SDNAP) is launching its latest report on Oral Health and Dental Services for Children.
The report was undertaken to assess the current service provision and to clarify the workforce required to sustain the service. It was undertaken against the background of improving child oral health attributed to preventive initiatives such as Childsmile. It also takes into account concerns that the age profile of paediatric- experienced dentists in Scotland indicates a significant number will be lost from the service and from the General Dental Council (GDC) specialist list over the next 5-10 years.
The report highlights a number of issues relating to the current service delivery model in general dental services (GDS), hospital dental services (HDS), the Public Dental Service (PDS) and Childsmile. It also confirms that inequalities still exist in relation to social and geographical factors such as deprivation, accessibility to services and spread of population in rural Scotland, and as such, these factors should be taken into consideration when planning services.