The British Dental Association has responded to freedom of information requests by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, showing that:

  • 1.8 million people (more than a third of those registered) have not had an examination or treatment in the past three years

  • Almost a quarter of those registered have not seen an NHS dentist for more than five years

  • The 95% figure quoted by ministers even includes more than 560,000 people (1 in 10 of those registered) who haven't seen their NHS dentist for more than a decade.

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    © Iuliia Burmistrova / Moment / Getty

The BDA believe the Scottish Government need to start quoting meaningful participation figures, given lifelong registration figures are effectively meaningless.

David McColl, Chair of the British Dental Association's Scottish Dental Practice Committee said: ‘Registration figures make for a nice press release but bear no relation to the crisis facing millions.'