Sir, in England, urgent dental care for inpatients is not described within the commissioning standard for urgent dental care and this means that regional commissioners will exclude inpatients when commissioning primary care services, such as Community Dental Services (CDS) who might have historically provided domiciliary care to hospitals without dental or maxillofacial units.1 This is in comparison to Scotland and Wales, where dental treatment for hospital inpatients is provided by the CDS.2,3

Reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 and the call to work more collaboratively with health partners within integrated care systems to improve overall health of the population, there should be discussion about local responsibilities to provide urgent dental care for inpatients. This applies not only to hospital trusts but rehabilitation and community hospitals who look after many at-risk groups for significant periods of time.

Pressures on the NHS have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and it is important that urgent dental care services are available for inpatients to reduce the burden on the NHS and in this recovery period, provision must be made to ensure these patients do not fall through the gaps. The dental profession has an important part to play in this, continuing to show that oral health is an important part of general health and wellbeing.