New personal and protective equipment (PPE) guidance from the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (BAOMS) and ENT UK advises surgeons on how to treat patients with emergency oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal conditions.
BAOMS Chair Patrick Magennis explained: 'Some patients with these conditions, but whose COVID-19 status is unknown, might require examination or treatment including biopsy, nasoendoscopy, extraction/SR of teeth or intra-oral biopsies'.
ENT UK President Nirmal Kumar said: 'This is a welcome and timely acknowledgement from Public Health England (PHE) that all clinicians working in close proximity to the upper airway and face will incur some form of contact with aerosols (Aerosol Generating Procedures/AGPs).
'PHE is rightly assuming that there are many asymptomatic individuals now in the community, which means that wearing full PPE is essential for any examination or procedures in all patients.'
The new guidance advises that for non-oral conditions such as head and neck skin lesions, where examination and treatment does not involve oral/nasal examination, normal COVID PPE guidance applies.
For full information about the new guidance go to BAOMS: www.baoms.org.uk; ENT UK: www.entuk.org and BAOS: www.baos.org.uk.