Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase local availability of NHS dental services in London.
Dental practices are particularly impacted by the risks associated with aerosol generating procedures and therefore National Health Service dental practices are required to adhere to infection prevention and control guidance published by Public Health England (PHE). This is impacting the numbers of patients NHS dental practices are able to safely see. As a result, practices have been asked to prioritise urgent care, care for vulnerable groups and delayed planned treatment.