Update from the chief dental officer on national restrictions in England

Sara Hurley, CDO for England, has released an NHS dentistry and oral health update in light of the new lockdown restrictions coming into effect on November 5. The statement reads:

I am writing to update you in light of the prime minister’s announcement that from Thursday, England will enter a period of further national restrictions until December 2.

The government's guidance states that “a number of public services will also stay open and you will be able to leave home to visit them. These include [...] the NHS and medical services like GPs”.

I can confirm that this includes NHS dental services. Therefore, during the period of tighter restrictions practices should remain open to treat patients in line with the standard operating procedure and with regard to the recently updated national infection prevention control dental appendix. Detail on both of these were shared in last week’s update and are repeated below.

As a reminder, I am also hosting a webinar this Thursday November 5 at 16:30 on the recent infection prevention control guidelines. Public Health England will be on the call, too. You can find details on how to sign up below. I hope you can join us.