Dental health 'rotting away'

Fury as more than 36,000 desperate patients forced to go private

- ANDAREW QUINN

MORE than 36,000 Scots have left NHS dentists to go private in the last five years, according to figures from Scottish Labour.

The party says NHS dental care has "rotted away under the SNP" as patients are opting for more expensive private clinics.

Labour submitted freedom of information requests to Scotland's health boards on the number of patients who have left NHS dentists.

Since 2019, the number is 36,818 though the real figure is higher as data was not available for some years.