We know many practices are facing high costs for and shortages of PPE. In our recent survey of 2000 practices in England, only a third have enough PPE to hand to provide face-to-face care, and only 25% say have been fit tested.
That’s why, we’re calling for urgent action from government to integrate the dentistry into official PPE supply chains and reduce the costs faced by dentists across the UK.
Download our new toolkit
We have detailed infection control procedures, including appropriate PPE, in our new Returning to work toolkit developed to help our members return to face-to-face care safely and with confidence.
Download the toolkit
We have produced
a poster - getting to and from work safely to advise staff on infection control for when travelling to and from work.
PPE training
Before you see patients for face-to-face care
We have developed a COVID-19 risk assessment
template
and
guide
to help ensure you have the right PPE and infection control before you treat patients.
Check for counterfeit PPE
Under the
Health and safety at work act, suppliers are responsible the for what they supply.
It states: It shall be the duty of any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies any article for use at work of: (a) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the article is so designed and constructed as to be safe and without risks to health when properly used.
We recommend that you only source PPE through reputable suppliers and avoid purchasing from online sellers, particularly those with seemingly extremely competitively priced products. Some of these sites are not only selling counterfeit/illegal product, but are just 'scammers' with no actual product for sale.
Here are some guides to help you know what to look out for: How to identify counterfeit PPE and
How to spot fake face masks.
BDA Indemnity and fit-testing
We're pleased to confirm that our indemnity cover allows policyholders to fit-test respiratory protective equipment (RPE) for dental staff in their own and other practices. Plus, the practice owner's policy will cover an employee in their own practice to do fit testing.
As BDA Indemnity provides the certainty of contractual cover, members can be sure that they will have the cover they need as an RPE fit tester and to allow them and their team to work in the practice safely, now and in the future.
Blogs on PPE
