Sir, while going through a large pile of past copies of the BDJ, a front cover image is shown of a 'Face-mask for the protection of the dentist while operating' circa 1920, 100 years ago (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

The cover image of the BDJ Volume 227 issue 8, published on 25 October 2019

Full size image

It is important to reflect that we have always been an infection aware profession and have therefore often been at the forefront of infection control in the surgery for both our patients and the whole dental team.1 Along with other dental schools,2 we stopped student patient contact before lockdown, however, we have continued with online lectures, tutorials, one to ones and imaginative online remote assessment. We are now grappling with the expectation of teaching again in September. Naturally, much important education can occur for example, with group work on evidence-based dentistry and with teaching preclinical skills in skills laboratories. Indeed, some elements of education, such as case reports, clinical reasoning and team care planning are probably easier to timetable across year groups and inter-professionally in the virtual environment, than face to face.

As primarily a school teaching dental nurses to certificate level, separate degree programmes in dental therapy and in dental hygiene, as well as teaching final year students from King's College London integrated team care, our focus on minimal intervention comes to the fore in a post COVID-19 era.

However, even behind our FFP3 masks and visors, the logistics of teaching clinical skills and caring for patients will remain a significant but critical challenge in our large open clinics with narrow passageways between clinical units. In addition, the need for one to one qualified dental nursing and new equipment that produces less aerosol, will not just need imagination, but like all of high street dentistry, considerable financial investment. We are about to enter a new era of dental education.