Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what scientific evidence informed the decision to re-open primary care dental services on 8 June 2020.

Decisions on the timing of restarting routine services across the National Health Service were made by the NHS on an individual service basis based on overall NHS capacity as well as wider public health considerations. NHS England and NHS Improvement as the commissioner of primary care dental services made the decisions on when to restart practice based dental care outside urgent dental care centres.

NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that dentists could start to provide NHS care from their practices from 8 June. The information sent to dentists was clear that the pace of the restart should be only as fast as possible compatible with maximizing safety for patients and dental staff. It drew together the current guidance from Public Health England on appropriate infection control procedures and personal protective equipment as it applies to dentistry.