A Message from the Hertfordshire Local Dental Committee

The following message has been written by Peter Tatton of the Hertfordshire Local Dental Committee:

Covid-19 and Dentistry – August 2020 update

NHS England proposed that the return of care by dentists should be staged with an initial focus on urgent and emergency care, patients whose care was interrupted and those who need more frequent care.

If you need dental care within working hours, you should contract your registered dental practice for information and advice over the phone who will advise you on what to do next.

For those of you who have no regular dentist and need some help please ring 111 and they will guide you to your nearest NHS dentist for Advice, Antibiotics or Analgesia (AAA). There will be very few dentists able to accept new NHS patients at present as most are struggling with working through their backlog of patients which have accumulated during lockdown; most, however, will be able to provide AAA.

Other factors reducing the ability for dental practices offering a normal service are:

• Social distancing rules mean most practices are only able to work at 50% of their capacity.
• The sourcing of appropriate PPE which has been in short supply (the NHS does not supply “high street” dentists with PPE).
• The time spent donning and removing PPE.
• Compulsory mask “fit tested” for the whole dental team which has to be redone every time a different brand of mask is used.
• Staff being unable to work due to being vulnerable following a risk assessment or having caring issues.
• Time problems due to having to leave the surgery room vacant for a fallow period of up to an hour before being able to start cleaning which is necessary before using it again.

All the above factors mean that there will not be a return to normal services any time soon so please bear with us as this is a difficult time for us all.

Peter Tatton, Hertfordshire Local Dental Committee Secretary

If you have a recent experience of NHS dental care, or seeking dental care, we’d like to hear about it. To do this, please call us on 01707 275978 and leave a message, or contact us by email at info@healthwatchhertfordshire.co.uk