NHS Fife missed a national target on children free of tooth decay but said it was the best result since regular dental checks started over 20 years ago.
Having highlighted the P1 result as the best ever, Mr Ball went on to say, “The continued delivery of the Childsmile Nursery and School programme and the delivery of the Childsmile Practice programme from 2011 onwards will ensure further progression is made.
“Our Community Dental Service staff have carried out both detailed and basic dental inspections, with over 16% more P1 children and over 14% more P7 children receiving basic inspections in Fife in 2010 compared to the previous year.
“The number of children receiving these inspections does, however, depend on how many children are present on the day the dental team visit.
“The proportion of nursery schools and targeted primary schools taking part in supervised toothbrushing programmes has also risen to 100% and 97% respectively as of November 2010.
“This follows significant work in Fife involving colleagues from Fife Council education service, head teachers and oral health improvement teams.
“In Fife, 85% of General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) are now NHS committed upon qualifying 40,000 more adults registered with GDPs in June 2010 compared to two years earlier.”
The health authority fell short of the target that 60% of primary one children should have no obvious sign of tooth decay, but did not miss by much.
NHS Fife consultant in dental public health Graham Ball said, “The statistics show that 59.7% of P1 children in Fife were found to be free of obvious decay the best ever result in Fife for P1 children since regular dental surveys began in the late 1980s.”
A report published on Tuesday also showed that Tayside has the highest ratio of dentists per population in Scotland.
Whereas Tayside performed relatively well on most dental health measures, Fife failed to achieve a number of targets.
Health boards across Scotland were set targets aimed at improving oral health across the country.
The nation’s information gathering organisation ISD Scotland published a monitoring report covering the last six months of 2010 that listed each board’s performance against the targets.
NHS Fife failed to reach a number of targets, including:60% of primary one children with no obvious tooth decay 100% of P1 children to receive a basic dental inspection in 2010 100% of P7 children to receive a basic dental inspection in 2010 All nursery schools to offer supervised toothbrushing schemes 100% of primary schools in the most deprived areas to participate in toothbrushing schemes 90% of 6 to 12-year-olds to be registered with an NHS dentist 65% of adults (18-64 years) registered with an NHS dentist Half of all people aged 65+ to be registered with an NHS dentist.With the exception of the dental inspection targets and the elderly registration targets, Tayside either met or exceeded all of the above.
In addition, both regions exceeded the target that 60% of P7 pupils should have no obvious tooth decay.
Both regions also exceeded the target of one dentist per 1750 population (including hospital dentists) and it was on that target that Tayside came out top across Scotland.
Both regions were slightly above the target of 80% of five-year-olds registered with an NHS dentist.
Continued…