Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Appropriate PPE is essential for the safe performance of dentistry during the COVID-19 outbreak and each practice is responsible for ensuring that adequate infection control procedures and necessary PPE is in place.

PPE training

Using PPE safely - CPD (1 hour): Watch the video, answer the questions and receive a certificate on using personal protective equipment.
Respirators in dentistry - CPD (1 hour): Practical guidance and face fit testing webinar with the Institute of Occupational Medicine.

Risk assessments

We have developed a COVID-19 risk assessment template and guide to help ensure you have the right PPE and infection control procedures in place to protect patients and staff.

Download our 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.

England: Free PPE for NHS providers

PPE is available to NHS providers and orderable every seven days via the PPE portal. To calculate the portal’s order limit, practices need to calculate their number of units of dental activity (UDAs) plus number of units of orthodontic activity (UOAs), if any, multiplied by 1.5 per practice per year.

Providers should have received an invitation to register sent to your email account registered with Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS Business Services Authority (BSA), NHS England or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Check for counterfeit PPE

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

What you need to know: PPE and fit-testing

Coronavirus: Why PAPR hoods are not the solution Sikh dentists need