Sir, a recent letter about consent and the need to warn about a risk of catching COVID-19 while attending for dental treatment1 is an interpretation of the Montgomery ruling,2 which potentially undermines the current standard operating procedure (SOP)3 and duplicates the warnings currently issued before attending a hospital appointment. It helps to distinguish between the procedure and the environment in which it is provided.

COVID-19 is not a material risk of the dental procedure itself and prospective patients will already have been alerted to the risk of visiting the hospital setting. The risk from being in a hospital building will have been covered by the general advice/instructions for anyone attending the hospital, and the infection protection control measures the authors acknowledge are carried out and therefore do not need to be part of the consent to the procedure itself.

'Montgomery' dealt specifically with the material risks of a medical procedure. The consent process is not invalidated by adding a line about the material risks of visiting a hospital, but neither does it augment the validity of that consent. The aim of an effective consent process is not to overwhelm the patient with so much information that they are left unable to process it all.

General dental practitioners who follow the SOP when providing dental treatment should continue to follow the BDA advice on consent4 without adding any additional warnings about their surgeries. Dental surgeries that are non-compliant with the current SOP in their jurisdiction should not treat patients.