Oral and Dental Health

Dental Public Health

Dental public health is the speciality of dentistry that is primarily concerned with preventing oral disease, promoting oral health and improving the quality of life for whole populations. It is concerned with the design and assurance of safe high quality dental services for all. It does so in collaboration with public and private organisations, communities and individuals.

Oral Health in Forth Valley

The Health Board undertakes regular inspections of Primary 1 (P1) and Primary 7 (P7) as part of the National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP).

• Primary P1 Pupils Oral Health in Forth Valley (PDF 17 kb - 1 page)
• Primary P7 Pupils Oral Health in Forth Valley (PDF 16 kb - 1 page)

• Information for Scotland and other health board areas is available from the NDIP website:

• National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP)

 Oral Health Improvement

Improving the oral health of children is a key goal and Forth Valley participates in the national Childsmile programme.

Details of the programme are available at:

• Childsmile

• A wide range of other programmes are in place involving a range of partners, schools, care homes, pharmacies and prisons. For information on Oral & Dental Health improvement programmes and activities in Forth Valley, please visit the Health Promotion Service website:

• Oral & Dental Health (Health Promotion Service) 

Management of Acute Dental Problems

The Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) has published a quick reference guide for use by staff in any healthcare setting who may have to manage patients with acute dental problems. Most patients with an acute dental problem will have one or more of the following symptoms: pain, trauma, swelling, ulceration, bleeding, altered sensation or abnormal appearance.

Based on each of these symptoms, the decision support flowcharts in the guide can be used to identify any immediate attention or advice to give to the patient and to determine the appropriate provider or subsequent care.

This publication is also available as a web based APP.

• Management of Acute Dental Problems
• Link to Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) website

Restorative Dentistry

The Restorative Dentistry Health Needs Assessment was undertaken by the Scottish Dental Needs Assessment Programme (SDNAP) and assessed the specialist restorative dentistry service provision in NHS baords across Scotland.  One of the Consultants in Dental Public Health, NHS Forth Valley, was a member of the Restorative Dentistry Working group which produced the report.

• Restorative Dentistry Needs Assessment Report July 2012

Oral Health Services

The majority of dental services are provided by general dental practitioners. Information about practitioners is available in the Service Information Directory:

• Service Information Directory

• Information about registration and emergency and urgent dental care is available at:

• Dental Services

• A wide range of information on NHS Dental services is available at:

• NHS Dental Service

   

   

* Please note that NHS Forth Valley Public Health Directorate takes no responsibility for the accuracy or quality of external websites linked to from this page. If you have a query, please contact the Oral & Dental Health Team.