Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions the Department has had with the General Dental Council on the provision of treatments during the covid-19 outbreak.

On 25 March the National Health Service released guidance on the provision of dental treatments.

All routine, non-urgent dental care including orthodontics should be stopped and deferred until advised otherwise.

All practices should establish (independently or by collaboration with others) a remote urgent care service, providing telephone triage for their patients with urgent needs during usual working hours, and whenever possible.

If the patient’s condition cannot be managed by these means, then they will need to be referred to the appropriate part of their Local Urgent Dental Care system.

Further information can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/03/issue-3-preparedness-letter-for-primary-dental-care-25-march-2020.pdf

Ministers and senior officials hold weekly stakeholder meetings at which the British Dental Association and Chief Dental Officer are present.