CDO letter and NHS advice about FFP3 respirators
Scotland’s Chief Dental Officer and NHS NSS Clinical Directorate address have written to dentists about the safety of the 3M 1863 FFP3 respirators provided by NHS Scotland to allow the provision of urgent aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) in practice.
The full text of the CDO letter follows:
There has been a degree of anxiety across the dental profession and the wider dental team in response to some recent media coverage about PPE. Specifically, around the safety of the 3M 1863 FFP3 respirators provided by NHS Scotland to allow the provision of urgent aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) in practice.
The health and safety of all clinicians delivering dental care is a key concern across the government and I am clear that the provision of urgent dental AGPs would not be permitted if appropriate PPE was not in place to deliver these safely. NHS NSS have provided separate advice on 2 September which I hope assured you that the FFP3 masks are safe. They have been rigorously tested, proven to be highly effective and they allow safe provision of AGPs to be undertaken within your practice.
You should be aware that these masks have been routinely and safely used within a wide range of health care settings, since March 2020, including critical areas such as emergency and acute care and in dentistry within the urgent care setting.
Therefore, I am clear, the 3M 1863 FFP3 masks are safe to use to provide AGPs and that you should continue to make use of the these masks and other PPE provided to you through central NHS Scotland stocks.