Dental care workers have been forced to wear scuba diving masks to protect themselves from coronavirus due to critical shortages of PPE, a union claims.
This shocking picture sent to Mirror Online shows a dental nurse from the south-east relying on the underwater equipment for protection.
Staff are using the kit while sterilising equipment and decontaminating rooms after treating patients potentially infected with Covid-19.
It comes after more than half of the respondents to a poll of dentists in England reported PPE shortages affecting the operational status of the Government's new urgent care centres.
The British Dental Association survey also suggested over a third of these centres, set up after practices across the country closed, are still inactive.
BDA Chair Mick Armstrong said: ”Many dentists have been redeployed, only to find their hands tied by a critical shortage of kit, and delays in training and fit-testing.
"The depth of these problems will fatally undermine any progress on getting this network up and running.
“Patients are taking matters into their own hands, while desperate colleagues shop around for scuba gear in a bid to keep themselves safe. It is time for a genuinely national effort to get PPE to the NHS front line.
"No health professional should have to risk becoming a super spreader simply to eke out supplies. The authorities should not be putting dentists, their families or patients in harm’s way.”
Speaking about the use of scuba diving masks, a BDA spokesman told Mirror Online: "They simply don’t have enough FFP3 masks left, and the only other option is cancelling urgent cases."
Nearly two thirds of dentists at urgent care centres in England have reported shortages of Face Filtering Protection 3 (FFP3) masks - the highest quality - and gowns.
The BDA has previously warned of a spike in 'DIY dentistry' as a result of the closure of clinics across the country.
Dentists have also slammed the Government over the slow roll-out of urgent care centres, which they claim left whole regions without access to urgent care.
Some private practices have been begging the Government to allow them to reopen, even offering to provide free treatment in response to a flood of dental 'horror stories'.
Dr Luke Thorley, from the British Association of Private Dentistry (BAPD) previously warned Mirror Online that the lockdown had sparked a crisis in dental care.
Patients have been calling their dentists to ask for instructions on how to remove their children's teeth during the lockdown.
Responding to the BDA's poll, Sara Hurley, chief dental officer for England, said every urgent care centre has the 'relevant PPE'.
She added: “Although this survey is an incomplete picture of dentists and services in this country, all dental practices were asked to suspend routine and non-urgent dental appointments, and to work with regional teams to set up Urgent Dental Care hubs to provide care for those who need it and 219 hubs are already open.
"Every hub has the relevant PPE and work is ongoing to ensure that supply is maintained.”
