A Comparison of the Frequency of General Practitioner Orthodontic Treatments in Scotland 1966 and 1975. Should the Present System be Reviewed?

In both 1966 and 1975, a relatively high proportion of general dental practitioners in Scotland failed to provide orthodontic treatment in the General Dental Service (35 and 38 per cent respectively), and the majority of those practitioners providing an orthodontic service commenced treatment for no more than ten patients in each of these years, i.e. 56 per cent (1966) and 61 per cent (1975).

These findings indicate that an urgent review of the present system is required if the quantity and quality of orthodontic treatment provided by the British National Health Service is to be improved. The present system has remained virtually unchanged since 1947, and it can now be seen to be both inefficient and uneconomic.

The anomaly of specialist orthodontists acting as ‘general dental practitioners’ in practices ‘limited to orthodontics’ in the General Dental Service is also discussed. It is suggested that those dental specialties requiring prolonged postgraduate training should receive formal specialist recognition and status in the United Kingdom, and that the most satisfactory method of providing a more comprehensive service is by the recognition of orthodontics as a true specialty and by the simultaneous expansion of the hospital service to play a more positive role in the provision of treatment.