title: Out of hours emergency dental service provision in Scotland--a survey of Health Boards.
abstract: Dental practitioners are a source of out of hours emergency dental care, but Health Boards in Scotland have been encouraged to make certain additional provision. A survey carried out in July 1991 has shown that ten of the 15 Scottish Health Boards operate a centralised, out of hours emergency dental service. The areas without such a service are mainly rural and with a small population, where setting up a scheme would be expensive and difficult. Only one Health Board operates a weekday service, but all of the Boards which provide a service operate it at weekends and on public holidays. There is considerable variation in the extent and use of the services provided by the different health boards. The greatest use of emergency dental services is in areas where the dentist:population ratio is good.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sutcliffe
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital; D004630:Emergencies; D006693:Holidays; D006801:Humans; D009551:Night Care; D012606:Scotland; D013222:State Medicine