Dentists in France have posted naked photos of themselves on social media in an effort to draw attention to their need for personal protective equipment.

With the hashtag #dentistesapoil, meaning "naked dentists", they've gone au naturel to show how it feels to be asked to work without protection.

In a video and posts circulating on social media, dentists are asking that the French government provide them with masks before they reopen their practices on May 11.

Julie Zerbib-Martin said she started the movement with two colleagues in April: "unfortunately we do not have enough protective equipment for returning to work."

Posing naked is a metaphor for being forced to work "in a vulnerable situation with our patients," she said.

The photos quickly went viral as dental surgeon Thierry Meyer gathered them into a Facebook album and another dentist Thierry Desaules posted a video on YouTube.

Now, more than 175 dentists have participated, Zerbib-Martin says. She's even heard from speech therapists and others who have the same fears about returning to work without proper protection.

Dentists, in particular, are highly exposed to COVID-19 due to the proximity they need to have with people's faces in order to do their work.

Dental offices have been closed during the coronavirus lockdown but are set to reopen on May 11.

Emmanuel Fougère is a dentist who has been working as a health assistant in a COVID-19 intensive care unit to help out during the pandemic.

He posted his "naked dentist" photo and then changed into full protective equipment to help with coronavirus patients, emphasising that he wore "everything that we're missing in reality."

Twin sisters Catherine and Nathalie Gros posted a photo of themselves in their office on Instagram, and said that they were condemning the lack of equipment for dental surgeons.

France's health ministry has said that it will give 150,000 masks to dentists ahead of the May 11 lifting of restrictions, but dentists say this is not a sufficient amount of masks since it would provide roughly three per dentist.

Zerbib-Martin added that masks have gone way up in price and cannot be pre-ordered from normal suppliers anymore.

"We haven't worked in a month and a half... and we won't be able to see as many patients as we used to," Zerbib-Martin said.

"We gave our materials away [to hospitals] at the beginning of the crisis in solidarity," she said. "Now we find that we have nothing left."

Chosen1984:
Because Iniquity Shall Abound... The Love of Many shall Wax Cold!

The Devil is a Bastard!!

He knows how to Modify and Package what will pollute the world and Make our minds and heart Polluted!

I Cover My Eyes and that of all The Brethren with The Blood of JESUS

Chosen1984:


I Cover My Eyes and that of all The Brethren with The Blood of JESUS

ogbuefi677:
Number 3.
If she gimme,I go graciously collect

FrLukas:
Why are they hiding behind furniture and covering their privates with their hands?

budaatum:

So you can focus on their protest instead of using their photos for hand jobs.

FrLukas:


They're just selling for attention is all.

budaatum:

Yes they are "just selling for attention" for PPE to protect their lives while they do their jobs. And as we can all see, they are getting it from so far away in our very own Nigeria which shows how smart they happen to be.

FrLukas:


No actually, that wasn't what I meant to write, "selling for attention". That was a typo.

budaatum:

A freudian slip perhaps?

I edited in my head and your "selling" came out 'seeking' but the meaning remained the same.

FrLukas:


Yeah, seeking was what I meant. True, almost same meaning.

They can pass their points without the nudity.

I'd always thought the practice if medicine is a dignified one.