DENTISTS are set to reopen in phases to tackle the mounting dental problems that have arisen while surgeries were shut during lockdown reports the BBC>

The Government is facing calls for dentists to be a part of the second phase of lifting lockdown.

If this goes ahead, dental surgeries would reopen alongside shops, department stores and shopping centres on June 15.

MP Sir Desmond Swayne told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I can’t see why dentists were closed in the first place, and I can’t see why they can’t reopen straight away.’

Chief dental officer Sara Hurley has told dentists to be prepared for phased reopening, similar to that already seen in Scotland.

In Scotland, urgent care centres that can see dental patients will be expanding first. This will then be followed by regular dentists.

Equipment that dispenses aerosol gases will not be used because it makes it easier for the virus to spread.

James Goolnik, a dentist in the City of London, said dentists are eager to return to work as more and more people are taking their dental care into their own hands or ignoring it all together, with dangerous consequences .

He said: ‘People tell me they have been using knives, nail files and trying to stick crowns back on with superglue but getting them the wrong way round.

Then there are some who have ulcers with no idea if they have cancer.

Unless it’s a life-threatening infection, the emergency centres won’t see them. That’s not acceptable. As dentists, we’re frustrated because we want to help but we’ve been held back.

‘We have PPE and we can work. We have been dealing with the risk of HIV for years and lots of other viruses.’