SCOTTISH dentists are warning that patients' costs will rise and there will be hundreds fewer dentists because of new hygiene rules.
They say regulations requiring them to have separate facilities for cleaning equipment will mean surgeries will have to be closed to be turned into sterilisation rooms.
Dentists in buildings which cannot be altered may have to close because of
the costs of moving, they warn. One dentist in Inverness has already shut up shop.
Some dentists want more money to help them alter their surgeries. Others say the regulations – brought in to counter the risk of CJD being caught from dental instruments – should be shelved. They claim there is little evidence the illness can be transmitted through equipment.
The Scottish Government is offering help to alter surgeries, and said regulations had been drawn up on clinical advice.
Dentists must comply with the new rules by the end of 2009. The hygiene regulations were drawn up after the Glennie Report, which was published in 2001. It called for new procedures for cleaning equipment to minimise the chance of transmitting the prions which carry CJD, the human variant of mad cow disease.
Jan Overmere, a dentist at Kyle of Lochalsh who also runs surgeries at Lochcarron and Gairloch, said: "In order to comply with the report, I will have to establish a dedicated decontamination room, separate from my surgery room, with at least three sinks and with more equipment.
"In Lochcarron, I would not be able to create a separate room and so would be forced to close the surgery.
"I'm not the only person in this kind of situation. There are hundreds of dentists working out of small premises where they don't have the space to set up extra rooms. They will have to spend a lot of money or just shut – which is what some older dentists will opt to do because they will decide it's just not worth it anymore."
Dentists say it will typically cost about £50,000 to refit surgeries under the new rules but they are being offered about £5,000 on average to help with the changes.
Inverness dentist Douglas Fraser decided to shut his practice because of the costs.
Andrew Lamb, the Scottish director for the British Dental Association, said: "We are in talks with the Government in order to clarify the timescale and the money which will be available for conversion."
The Scottish Government said ministers were making extra money available.
