Patients expecting dental services to resume on Monday have been warned to expect only a skeleton service as practices around England struggle to reopen. Boris Johnson’s announcement last week that dentists in England would reopen from 8 June has left many practices scrambling to source personal protective equipment and put appropriate safety measures in place. Mick Armstrong, the chair of the British Dental Association (BDA), said patients should not expect practices to get back to normal immediately. “Anyone expecting dentistry to magically return on Monday will find only a skeleton service,” he said. “Those practices reopening now face fewer patients and higher costs and will struggle to meet demand.” A poll by the BDA of 2,053 dentist practices in England suggests only 36% plan to reopen on Monday. Upon reopening, the number of patients a dentist might see could be cut by as much as 75%. According to the Oral Health Foundation, each year around 18 million adults in England would usually visit NHS or private dentists. Magda (who asked that her real name not be published), a practice principal for three dental practices in Oxford, both NHS and private, said the lack of time to prepare meant they would not be able to open until 15 June, and even then only to offer prescriptions and tooth extractions, as NHS guidelines suggest they should not carry out aerosol-generating procedures such as drilling. “We only found out that dental practices can reopen on [8 June] from Boris Johnson on the news, which is very frustrating. At that point, neither dentists or patients have been given any further guidance,” she said. “One week before the news came out that we have to reopen, I was told by the NHS that we probably wouldn’t open for another few months.” Magda said she was trying to source PPE but the price of a box of 50 basic surgical masks had risen from £4 to £35. “We were thinking because we have got an NHS contract that the NHS would pay for it, because the cost per patient for PPE would increase extortionately,” she said. “Sadly, a few days ago I received an email from the NHS saying they will not support us and the patient charges will not increase.” She was also attempting to prepare for a possible announcement that NHS practices will have to offer aerosol-generating procedures. “I have been trying to find PPE – there are no gowns available in the country, there are no masks. We need to have special FFP2/FFP3 masks [for aerosol-generating procedures],” she said. And even if PPE is sourced, there are further issues, with masks needing to be fit-tested. “[The tests] are all booked up for the next few months and they cost around £800,” Magda said. Julie Deverick, the president of the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy, said she would be opening her practice on Monday, but the guidance on whether private practices should offer aerosol-generating procedures had been mixed, with practices having to use their own judgment depending on PPE and safety measures in place. Christina Chatfield, a clinical director and hygienist at the Dental Care Spa in Brighton, a private practice, said they would not open until 15 June, also citing severe difficulties in getting hold of PPE and accessing equipment for fit-testing. Chatfield said about 2,500 patients had missed hygienist or dental appointments at the practice over the past 10 weeks. It would be “months and months” before patients could access a simple check-up – important for picking up conditions such as mouth cancer and diabetes – as emergency cases and those midway through treatment would need to be seen first, she said. Deverick said many patients wanting an appointment on Monday would be disappointed. “We have really got to manage patient expectations an awful lot,” she said.