A letter sent to NHS dental teams from Tom Ferris, Chief Dental Officer, states that the rationale for these changes is:
- To allow reflection on the oral health status of registered patients and to understand the effectiveness of interventions
- To begin building a longitudinal database of the population that will allow cross-sectional and time-series comparison over time
- To allow both Health Boards and Scottish Government to be able to report on critical oral health metrics and understand how targeting additional care could help reduce inequalities.
The three metrics being focussed on are:
- Number of teeth present
- Number of teeth requiring restoration or extraction
- Highest sextant scores with Basic Periodontal Examination.
The provisional timeline for system changes is 1 August and a webinar is expected later this year to explain in further detail.