Dentists in Harrogate have been hit hard by lockdown restrictions and some fear that social distancing measures at surgeries will be place for a long time to come.

Dr Tim Doswell, who is a dentist at the Raglan Suite in Harrogate, said dentistry will not be able to “go back to normal” and that surgeries will have to prioritise emergency procedures.

He said non-essential areas, such as cosmetics, will have to be seen as less important and appointments may remain limited for some time to come.

Meanwhile, patient appointments may have to be spaced out which means some dentists will be forced to remain open longer in order to see them.

Dr Doswell said the industry will have to adjust to life after the coronavirus pandemic.

"The problem with dentistry there is a lot of aerosol-generating procedures and it has been shown that this can stay in the environment in the surgery for up to three hours, so this then puts the next patient at risk,” he said.

“So in the new world when we do go back to work it's going to be very different until we get a vaccine.

“Appointments will have to be spaced out which is going to limit availability, so non-essential dentistry is going to be very limited for a long time as dentists will have to prioritise emergencies."

At the moment, dentists can only see patients for emergency appointments.

This includes life threatening infections, trauma caused by accidents, severe pain that cannot be controlled by pain killers or a fractured tooth which has exposed the nerve.

Other patients are triaged over the phone and offered advice or prescribed medicine, such as pain killers or antibiotics.

Anne Benson, who works as a carer for St Margaret's, told the Stray Ferret that she would not have been able to get back to work without the swift work of her dentist: