More than half of the community dental service have swapped teeth for testing following their redeployment to cover critical frontline services.
The dental service operates across Berkshire, stretching from West Berkshire Community Hospital to Langley.
The team of more than 40 have been split, with the majority swabbing people at COVID-19 testing centres in Newbury, Ascot and Reading, with others working on wards as health care assistants. A small core team is still providing emergency dental care to those needing urgent emergency treatment.
Most of the team continue to work during the day and some are also working weekends.
Swabbing people at the COVID-19 test centres was a natural fit for the dentistry team. As well as being used to working with mouths, they have good communication skills and work well as a team. Dental nurses have also been swabbing and admin staff assist with coordinating the test results.
Initial concerns about contact with those suspected of having COVID-19 were allayed after detailed induction and training and assurances about Personal Protection Equipment.
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Some of our services, including our Dental service, are changing due to coronavirus. You can find more information about these updates on our website.
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