Call for new Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School to help beat dental crisis
A new Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School should be established to help solve Scotland's "deepening" dental crisis, a leading oral surgeon has said.
With many NHS practices struggling to fill vacant posts and refusing to accept new NHS patients, as well as long waiting lists for specialist treatment, Dr David Offord, who runs the specialist Vermilion practice in Corstorphine, said there was an urgent need to increase the number of dentists being trained.
And he said the closure of the Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School in 1994 had been "a huge mistake".
The situation was being made worse by dentists retiring from the profession early or leaving the NHS to focus on private practice.
He said: "We're witnessing a measurable decline in the active NHS dental workforce, particularly in general dental services.
"The numbers tell a devastating story: 190 fewer active NHS dentists in just three years, and children waiting over a year for basic tooth extractions."
And he said a critical shortage in specialist dental consultants, particularly in oral medicine and restorative dentistry, had led to exceptionally long waiting times for specialist dental treatment in Lothian, where the longest recorded wait for an adult tooth extraction reached two years.
He said: "We're seeing patients resort to dangerous DIY dentistry, travelling hundreds of miles for treatment, or going without care entirely.
"This isn't just about oral health. Untreated dental problems can lead to serious systemic health issues, emergency hospital admissions, and in extreme cases, life-threatening infections."
Dr Offord's warning comes ahead of the fifth Vermilion Biennial Symposium next month, where dentists from across Scotland will gather at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in Queen Street to address what organisers describe as the most critical challenges facing the profession in decades.
The keynote speaker will be Scottish Labour Party Leader, and former dentist, Anas Sarwar.
The symposium is expected to call for a new, fully-funded NHS contract making primary care dentistry an attractive career option; a comprehensive national dental workforce plan with long-term funding commitments; and establishment of a new Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School to provide integrated training of dentists, specialists and dental care professionals.
Dr Offord was one of the last dentists to qualify at the old Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School.
He said: "In 1989 I pitched up at Edinburgh University, I was 17. We were told in Fresher's Week that the dental school was to close. I was in the final year to come through.
“The old Chambers Street dental school where I trained closed in 1994; so there have been no undergraduates come out of Edinburgh since then."
It was replaced a few years later by Edinburgh Dental Institute (EDI), but it had far fewer student places and they were all postgraduates so there was no supply of undergraduates available to treat patients. Dr Offord said the only undergraduate course had been for dental therapists.
And last year the university announced it was withdrawing from the EDI, leaving NHS Lothian to provide core services.
Dr Offord said the "short-sighted" decision to close the Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School in 1994 and the university's withdrawal in 2024 from the EDI had left Scotland's capital city without adequate secondary dental care infrastructure.
He said his own specialist private practice, whose work is all referred to it by dentists, had become "like a mini-dental hospital" because of the lack of other provision.
"It's good for my business, but I'm very aware of the bigger picture and want to raise awareness of the fact the current model isn't working and the situation is just getting worse.
"We need Edinburgh Dental Hospital and School re-established to address the chronic shortage of dentists and specialists across south-east Scotland."
An Edinburgh University spokesperson said the university regularly reviewed its degree programmes to ensure they met the needs of the community.
"In 2024, we made a strategic decision to pause recruitment to our undergraduate and postgraduate dental education programmes.
“The undergraduate degree programme was paused after confirmation that external funding for the course had been withdrawn. Postgraduate student numbers were low and unable to be increased due to limited access to external dental facilities required to teach students.
"All students who were matriculated at that time will continue in their studies until they have completed their undergraduate or postgraduate degrees. The shortfall in funding is currently being met within the University, with all students due to graduate by 2028.”
NHS Lothian said its services at the Edinburgh Dental Institute were continuing and it had recently recruited of both oral medicine and restorative dentistry consultants.
It added: "The conversation around the potential establishment of a new dental school would sit with Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland and University of Edinburgh."