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Dentists

Data source

Dentists working in the general dental services (GDS) are independent contractors and are usually the first point of contact for NHS dental treatment. People registered with a dentist can receive the full range of NHS treatment available under GDS. Data on this workforce is sourced from the Management Information and Dental Accounting System (MIDAS) held at Public Health Scotland. In the NHS Scotland workforce Official Statistics dashboard, these dentists can be found in the Dentist tab updated in June and September.

Dentists working in hospitals and Public Dental Services (PDS) provide dental care for people who have either been referred for further treatment or could not get care through the GDS (for example for patients who are residents of long-stay care). These dentists are directly employed by NHS Scotland and their data are sourced from SWISS. These numbers include Dentists in Training.

New or recent dental graduates undertake a one-year programme, Dental Vocational Training (DVT), which will allow them to work as an Associate or Principal in the GDS. Data on these Vocational Dental Practitioners (VDPs) are available in both SWISS and Turas People. In the NHS Scotland workforce Official Statistics dashboard, these dentists can be found in the Dentist tab updated in June and September.

From December 2022 (30 September 2022 census) they can also be found in the employment section of the dashboard under their employer Board, NHS Education for Scotland, ‘community dentistry’ specialty and ‘other’ grade. Before then VDPs were reported using an extract from Turas TPM, and were not in included in the employment data.

Methods

GDS dentists are those GDPs who have an active list number on MIDAS. A list number allows a Dentist to deliver NHS care within a board.

PDS dentists are those who:

  • meet the definition of an active employee on the census date within SWISS AND,
    • have a Dental specialty recorded OR,
    • have an unknown specialty AND a GDC registration number,
  • AND have “PDS” in their Pay Grade.

Hospital dentists are those who:

  • meet the definition of an active employee on the census date within SWISS AND,
    • have a Dental specialty recorded OR,
    • have an unknown specialty AND a GDC registration number,
  • AND do not have “PDS” in their Pay Grade.

Vocational dental practitioners are those who:

  • meet the definition of an active employee on the census date within SWISS AND,
  • have a Pay Grade of “Vocational Dental Practitioner”

What data are published?

The headcount of dentists working in the General Dental Service (GDS), Public Dental Service (PDS) and hospitals are published twice a year. An individual dentist is identified by their General Dental Council (GDC) Number. Dentists who work in multiple services, or NHS Boards will be counted once under each area and once in any totals, therefore subtotals may not add up to totals.

Inflow, outflow and turnover rate for the GDS and PDS workforce is also published.

Data quality

Similarly to General Practitioners, data is maintained by NHS Boards to manage their dental lists, and for dentists to receive payments for services. Due to this, data is likely to be of good quality.