Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Chief Dental Officer for England has to issue advice to (a) dentists and (b) other dental care staff on responding to the coivd-19 outbreak.

Advice has been ongoing throughout the crisis, with safe working documents being produced from 20^th March. NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) announced on 28^th May that NHS Dental services could gradually resume from 8 June. Urgent dental centres remain open to assist with the resumption of routine dentistry.

NHSE/I published a series of guidance throughout the pandemic to support dental practices. The latest guidance can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/dental-practice/

The guidance includes:

- NHSE/I letter issued to all dental practices, regional dental leads of the resumption of dental services.

- A detailed standard operating procedure was issued setting out guidance on how to restart dentistry safely

- Public Health England published guidance to dental
practices and other health care professionals on infection control protocols (IPC) and personal protective equipment (PPE)