A SENIOR dentist has described the challenges of providing care during the coronavirus pandemic, including the frustration felt by colleagues at lack of PPE.

Dental practices in Worcestershire are no longer seeing routine patients face-to-face due to the high risk of transmission. Only those working in urgent dental care are deemed to need personal protective equipment, the Chief Dental Officer said earlier this month. Public Health England has overseen delivery of two weeks worth of supplies to urgent dental care settings.

Dr Ravi Solanki, chairman of the Worcestershire Local Dental Committee, said: “We have been providing remote advice to patients for a number of weeks, but we haven’t been able to offer face-to-face delivery of care.

“It’s frustrating for dentists, but patient safety, and the safety of our dental team is of the utmost importance. We want to be able to treat our patients but don’t have the PPE to do this.

“Dentists are in the queue to get stocks of PPE but we’re not top of the list. When the lockdown first started, many dental practices donated their PPE to local hospitals and care homes. There were mixed messages where, on the one hand, we were being advised everyone had PPE but frontline staff were requesting it. For dentists to be able to start treating patients again there needs to be a reasonable and fluid supply.”

Those seeking help with dental problems should not visit local dental practices in person but instead contact their usual practice by phone, between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, for information or advice on alternative arrangements in place. Outside normal hours or if a patient does not have a dentist they should contact NHS 111.

All local practices are offering telephone or video-link consultations and can prescribe pain killers and antibiotics if needed. Following these telephone or video consultations, urgent cases will be referred to one of the new Urgent Dental Care (UDC) systems which have been established to meet the needs of people who are possible or confirmed Covid-19 patients, those who are shielded, those who are vulnerable or those who do not fit into these categories. The UDCs will operate by appointment only following telephone or video triage – there are no walk-in or drop-in appointments. People should not visit A&E departments or GP surgeries for dental care.