Public Health: Dental Services

(asked on 11th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on public health of the number of dental practices that will reopen in June 2020.


Answered by
Jo Churchill Portrait
Jo Churchill
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 8th July 2020

The gradual reopening of routine dentistry is in line with the gradual resumption of routine care across the National Health Service and wider healthcare sector as the pandemic passed its peak and overall demands on the NHS eased. Opticians have now also reopened.

No direct assessment is made of the individual risk to public health of restarting routine care. All healthcare organisations, as well as using infection control procedures to minimise risk of direct transmission between clinicians and patients, are required to ensure patients and staff follow standard social distancing requirements in areas such as reception.

For dentistry NHS England and NHS Improvement issued a standard operating procedure earlier this month setting out detailed guidance on how dentists can restart face to face dentistry safely. NHS England and NHS Improvement dental guidance is available at the following link:

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

Dentists are responsible for ensuring that they follow safe practice taking into account available official guidance.

Reticulating Splines