Examinations

Dentists provide one of three types of examination for their patients: simple examination, extensive examination or full case assessment. The first type of examination is the most common and can be claimed every 6 months for an adult patient. The other types of examination can be claimed every 24 months for an adult patient.

No fee is paid to dentists for routine child examinations, as this is included in the registration fee. Examination fees for those under 18 are paid only for orthodontic assessments or trauma cases.

Examinations; year ending March
		2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
No. of examinations	000's	2,185	2,213	2,168	2,179	2,151
Cost of examinations	£000's	15,126	15,910	15,936	16,521	16,903
Item of service fees	%	11.9	12.0	12.2	12.5	12.6
Examinations per 100 courses of treatment; year ending March
		2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Scotland		66.2	66.1	66.4	66.6	66.8
Argyll & Clyde		63.7	63.6	64.3	64.3	64.7
Ayrshire & Arran		63.4	63.5	63.9	64.6	65.7
Borders		68.7	67.7	67.0	69.4	69.7
Dumfries & Galloway		67.1	67.1	66.6	68.8	67.8
Fife		69.1	68.3	68.5	68.7	67.9
Forth Valley		65.4	66.0	67.0	67.7	67.6
Grampian		68.6	68.1	68.4	68.3	67.6
Greater Glasgow		63.8	64.2	64.4	64.6	64.7
Highland		65.6	65.2	65.2	62.9	62.0
Lanarkshire		64.0	64.2	64.5	65.3	65.6
Lothian		68.9	68.7	68.7	68.6	69.1
Orkney		72.3	72.9	43.5	20.1	0.0
Shetland		71.6	71.1	72.8	73.8	77.1
Tayside		67.8	67.7	68.1	68.4	68.7
Western Isles		63.5	61.3	63.0	57.2	58.2