Welsh dentists seek earlier return, as practices reopen in England
Dentists in Wales have called for plans to be revised, after practices reopened in England. Under guidelines released by the Chief Dental Officer for Wales, surgeries will start opening as part of a phased return in July.
The planned reopening from July has not been welcomed by some dentists, and a Cardiff dentist has now written an open letter on behalf of 500 practitioners to call for practices to open earlier. Clinics in England started reopening on Monday 8th June, but there are no plans for practices in Wales to begin welcoming patients back for at least another three weeks. Dr Charlie Stephanakis said that delaying reopening posed a risk of an “impending disaster” for dental health in Wales.
Dr Colette Bridgman, the CDO for Wales, has set out three phases, with the first beginning in July, and the Welsh Government has insisted that a staged, gradual easing of lockdown measures is essential to control the virus. However, dentists are worried that patients face a crisis in the future if practices remain closed any longer. Dental services have now been suspended, aside from urgent care provided by local hubs, for three months, and this will undoubtedly impact standards of oral health going forward. It is believed that under the phased system, routine services may not be available in Wales until 2021.
Dr Stephanakis suggested that keeping practices closed would lead to an increase in patients with “untreated acute dental problems”, higher numbers of hospital admissions associated with dental issues and cause more people to lose teeth as a result of declining oral health standards. In his letter to Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales, Dr Stephanakis urged the government to organise urgent meetings with the profession to discuss an earlier reopening date.
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