More Scots are registered with an NHS dentist than at any time since records began.

There has been a 19 per cent increase in adults and a 12 per cent rise in registered children compared with the same period last year. At the end of June 2008, 75.6 per cent of children (794,000) and 55.4 per cent of adults (2.3million) were registered with an NHS general dental practitioner.

Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, said: “NHS dentists in Scotland increased 4.1 per cent in the year up to the end of March 2008 and I expect that growth to continue.”

Meanwhile, the number of women in Scotland being screened for cervical cancer has fallen to its lowest rate for more than a decade, especially among younger members of the population. Only 69.7 per cent of eligible women had been checked for the disease in the past 3 years. That figure, from March 31 this year, compares with 81.7 per cent of eligible women in 1998 and 78 per cent in 1995.

Uptake rates have fallen in almost all age groups and are 10 per cent down on a decade ago.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are working with NHS boards to investigate the decline reported and develop local initiatives to reverse this trend. This will include research exploring why women do not attend for screening. This trend is comparable with the trend in the rest of the UK.”

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