Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that dental surgeries have access to an adequate supply of appropriate personal protective equipment as those surgeries reopen after covid-19 lockdown.

Dental practices purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) from dental wholesalers. As practices reopened from 8 June, the Department made available the necessary PPE to wholesalers for onward sale in addition to the wholesalers existing ability to source PPE from the wider market.

The overall supply of PPE has significantly improved over recent months. Arrangements have been made to increase the supply of PPE to wholesalers for dentistry as well as National Health Service support in arranging the necessary fit testing for the PPE needed for aerosol generating procedures.