This peculiar period of lockdown has created particular challenges for self-employed dental care professionals such as dental hygienists, dental therapists and orthodontic therapists, who are not being furloughed like many employed staff.

According to a survey conducted among over 900 hygienists and therapists [thank you to those who took part], the primary concern during the pandemic appears to be financial (70%); 73% have not been furloughed; and hygienists and therapists gave an average score of 6.9 regarding how anxious they are about returning to work (on a scale of 1-10). Read more in our up to the minute article 'COVID-19 - Working as a hygienist or therapist'.

It is difficult to know how the third group mentioned above, orthodontic therapists, are coping. If you are an orthodontic therapist and would like to share your circumstances and concerns during the pandemic, please do get in touch via bdjteam@nature.com. We sincerely hope that all BDJ Team readers and DCPs generally are coping and managing during this extremely challenging time, and hope that life begins to return to normal in as safe a way as possible sooner rather than later.

In this issue we present further experiences of life under lockdown conditions, including a particularly heartfelt account from dental hygienist and business owner Michelle Vintner. Michelle was riding a rollercoaster of responsibilities while juggling 50 balls before lockdown sent her home to be with her family. Although she remains concerned for the future of the business she has put her heart and soul into, lockdown has brought her some much needed stress relief and breathing space.

Also this month Cat Edney from the reader panel shares her experience of setting up Urgent Dental Centres in London and writes on making the most of your dental therapist; Emma Hammett looks at how long Coronavirus can survive on different surfaces, and new contributor Kemi Ajayi provides tips on clinical record auditing for healthy CQC results.

What will June bring?

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Kate Quinlan

Editor

k.quinlan@nature.com