DOTS gets its teeth into Glasgow’s dental health problems

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has opened a £1m South Side dental surgery which aims to accommodate 10,000 National Health Service patients and make a major difference to Glasgow’s dental health record.
The project, which is known as Dentistry On The Square (DOTS) and located at 12 Niddrie Square, Queens Park, is the brainchild of Dr Mark Skimming.
One of the youngest Masters qualified dentists in the country, Mark’s ambition is to turn a moribund practice into one of the busiest in the city. He personally raised that substantial sum of money to get DOTS off the ground.
Raised in Cumbernauld, but now a Westender, Mark studied dentistry at the University of Glasgow, taking his inspiration from family friends in the healing profession.
He completed a postgraduate diploma in advanced restorative dentistry, a two-year course, and is due to graduate in 2010.
At this time, Mark will be the youngest dentist in the UK to be awarded this qualification from the Royal College of Surgeons. He has also been awarded the Membership of the Faculty of General Dental Practice postgraduate qualification from the Royal College.
He chose restorative dentistry because ‘You can really make a change to people’s lives by providing them with a new smile.’
With television pictures of queues of people waiting to join NHS dentists, DOTS’s target of 10,000 patients within the next two years is not an unrealistic one.
‘In our first month we hit the 300-mark,’ said Mark. ‘Ten thousand is very ambitious but we have the capacity and we’re more than capable of coping with that number.’
While a specialist, Mark appreciates there will be a focus on what a patient might imagine would be the more ‘day-to-day’ aspects of dentistry. DOTS offers evening and weekend opening.
‘There’s nothing that we don’t offer at the practice. It’s just that there’s more of a specialism in that when there are cases other dentists can’t manage, we’ll be looking to be the guys who’ll step in.’
With dentistry, Mark points out that prevention is better than cure and urges Scots – who are not the world’s best at taking care of their teeth – to take the steps towards better dental healthcare.
DOTS has four surgeries that could support six dentists, and Mark hopes the practice will train as many as 20 newly-qualified dentists over the next decade.
‘In our part of the world there are still a lot of people with poor dental health,’ Mark added. ‘It’s important that the people of Glasgow have the resources they need and at DOTS we are playing our part. With a fair wind believe we can make a big dent in the target for NHS registration.’