Dentists in crisis ..the painful tooth

>> NHS 24 calls about dental woes treble as Scots can't get appointments >>The average waiting time for surgery in some areas is 51 WEEKS

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

SCOTLAND'S dental crisis has sparked a trebling of calls to NHS 24 about toothache and other oral problems.

A lack of NHS dental appointments has seen calls to the 24-hour emergency advice service rocket from 25,509 in 2018-2019 to 67,189 in 2022-2023.

Meanwhile, waiting lists for oral surgery around the country have lengthened.

In Lanarkshire, the average waiting time for surgery has risen from five weeks in 2019-2020 to 44 weeks in 2022-23 a 780 per cent increase.

Among other sharp rises are surgery times in Ayrshire and Arran, where there was an average of 12 weeks but last year that hit 42 weeks.