NHS dental data monitoring report
Quarter ending March 2025

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) relates to the initial transitional period of payment changes for dentists working in NHS Primary Dental Care. On 1 November 2023, the Scottish Government implemented an NHS dental payment reform. This provides an overview of key metrics of activity and spend since the reform was introduced.

This release also reports on patient participation (contact with NHS primary dental care) over the previous two years; looking across both the old and new payment arrangements.

Main points

• 5,218,597 people were registered with an NHS dentist as of 31 March 2025 (95.8% of the Scottish population*).
• 622,519 extensive clinical examinations were paid in the quarter ending 31 March 2025 under the new pay arrangements. In total, over 3.2 million have been undertaken since the NHS dental payment reform was introduced.
• In the quarter ending 31 March 2025, children and adults from the most deprived areas (SIMD 1) were less likely to have had contact with NHS primary dental care than those in the least deprived areas (48,028 compared to 56,779 children and 137,040 compared to 166,013 adults). A similar pattern was seen in participation rates across the previous two years.

*Percentages are based on 2022 mid-year population estimates provided by the National Records of Scotland (NRS).

Bar chart depicting the number of children and adults seen, by SIMD quintile. The chart shows that the number of children and adults increases as the deprivation decreases, with the highest figures in the 4th quintile for both age groups.

Close

Number of patients who had contact with NHS Primary Dental Care; by SIMD quintile; quarter ending March 2025; Scotland ¹

¹ Based on the month the claim was paid/authorised. Following completion of treatment, dentists have up to 3 months to submit a claim. As a result, the payment month may differ from the month(s) the patient had contact with NHS Primary Dental Care.

Background

Dental claims are submitted by NHS dentists for activity monitoring or to claim payment for treatments and associated fees. The Statement of Dental Remuneration (SDR) lists all the Items of Service (IOS, i.e. treatments and associated fees) that can be claimed. On 1 November 2023, the Scottish Government implemented an NHS dental payment reform. As part of the reform, a new list of 45 items (Determination1) that can be claimed for general dentistry was created. This is to make it simpler for both dental teams and patients to understand.

This report primarily focuses on activity (treatments) following the introduction of the NHS dental reform; therefore, only Determination I codes are fully reported. However, the number of examinations claimed using old SDR codes have also been published to demonstrate the continued level of activity being claimed under the old payment arrangements.

Data on patient access covers all patient activity across the old and new payment arrangements. Financial data reflects the overall level of claims, including IOS claims made across the old and new payment arrangements. The Public Dental Service have separate contractual arrangements, and therefore their payments are excluded from this report.

Further information

This is the last release of this publication.