| Speaking at today’s official opening at the state-of-the-art centre at the University of Dundee, Mr Macdonald said the facilities would play a pivotal role in attracting more dentists to the profession as well as retaining their services in the NHS.
However, the new centre, which brings together NHS Tayside, NHS Education for Scotland and the University of Dundee, faces a tough task on its own doorstep with a shortage of NHS dental services in Tayside leaving over half of the adult population and more than one quarter of children not registered with an NHS dentist.
Mr Macdonald said the dental centre, which was funded by capital investment from the Scottish Executive to NHS Tayside, would prove beneficial not just in Tayside but across Scotland.
He said, “I am committed to increasing the number of NHS dentists in Scotland through our dental action plan which has been in place for the last 15 months.
“This centre means more trainee dentists in the short-term, more readily available dental treatment in the medium-term and more NHS dentists in the long-term.
“These tremendous facilities will help to improve the profession and the levels of skill and expertise within dentistry.”
Mr Macdonald said patients would reap the rewards almost immediately, with the centre’s postgraduate students gaining hands-on experience as part of their training.
He continued, “As far as the patient is concerned they will see a lot of differences, there will be an increasing number of dentists providing treatment.
“The postgraduates here will be out there treating patients during their training, particularly people who are not registered with an NHS dentist.”
Mr Macdonald placed a great emphasis on the dental school’s ability to offer financial incentives to the next generation of dentists, which he hopes will tie them to the NHS and the continued provision of free dental treatment.
“With the bursaries available to the students we now have a great opportunity to have more NHS dentists treating more NHS patients,” he explained.
“We now have a better package to attract dentists to the NHS and ensure they remain with the NHS treating patients.
“These students will be training in outreach centres, not just in Dundee, but across the north and north east of Scotland and we hope these programmes will encourage dentists to stay in these places once they have completed their training.”
NHS Tayside chairman Peter Bates said it was a proud day for all members of the initiative.
He said, “This excellent facility will bring together the expertise of colleagues at the University of Dundee, NES and NHS Tayside to ensure dental students as well as dental professionals including dentists, dental nurses, hygienists and therapists, can keep up-to-date with developments in dental care and access cutting-edge technology and teaching techniques.”
Sir Alan Langlands, principal of the University of Dundee, said the new centre was the culmination of a 10-year project, which has transformed the postgraduate facilities from a small suite to a magnificent new facility.
He said, “This new facility is a fine example of organisations working in partnership and will help improve the training of dentists and assist in tackling one of Scotland’s pressing health issues.”
It is hoped the multi-million makeover of the university’s Frankland building, which included the creation of a physical link to the existing dental hospital, will further the university’s international reputation.
A number of specialist events are already under consideration with a series of master classes by leading experts in dentistry currently being planned for the latter part of this year and next. |
