What is it like to be a Trainee Dental Nurse at Gentle Dental Care?

If you are interested in working in the dental field but don’t know where to start, Dental Nursing might be for you. Being a Dental Nurse is about working closely with a dentist and supporting them throughout dental treatments. We asked our trainee Dental Nurse, Carmina to provide the lowdown on her day-to-day activities and tell us what she loves about working in the field of dental nursing so far…

“One of my main duties is to assist the patients and make their visit as comfortable and stress-free as possible.

Joining the team in September 2020 made a big impact in my life, I have always wanted to work in the Dental field and being a trainee Dental Nurse at Gentle Dental Care Group has opened a lot of opportunities for me. I am still new to this field and I am excited about learning new things every day. Gentle Dental Care provides me with advance training which involves training to use the System for Dentist (SFD) software, as well as supporting the dentist to do clinical notes, sending hospital referrals and processing radiographs. In addition to that, I have been training to set up the iTero and take photographs for Invisalign patients. I’ve only been at the practice for a short time but, I already feel I am becoming a versatile nurse. I have been given a chance to work with different dentists at several of the Gentle Dental Care Group practices, which has given me a diversified experience. I was able to observe various techniques used by different dentists and this has allowed me to gain a wider understanding of different dental procedures. I have experience working in an NHS practice, private practice as well as working with a specialist dentist.

During my spare time, I have been training as a receptionist, working as a call hub operator, and taking payments. I have also been given a chance to provide oral hygiene advice to a patient with the supervision of a dentist, which I found to be a valuable new experience.

What does a typical day compromise of? I typically like to arrive at the practice before my official start time so I can say hello to everybody, settle into my day, turn on the computer, autoclave (sterilise) all of the instruments and materials for upcoming dental procedures and check this has been successful by using TST indicator strips to verify if the correct combination of temperature, steam and time have been achieved.

I will then check all the appointments for the day and check if all the associated lab work is back for those appointments before I set up the surgery ready for the arrival of patients.

If we have a gap in appointments, I unbox deliveries.

After lunch, I prepare the surgery for the afternoon patients by putting every cleaned, pouched instrument back in the cupboard. I assist the dentists as necessary before cleaning and sanitising the surgery at the end of the day. I sterilise all the used equipment and clean the decontamination room. If I have any extra time, I restock the surgery (with bibs, disposable cups, needles etc)”.

All the staff at Gentle Dental Care are assets to the practice.  We look for talented, passionate and caring staff to ensure the patient experience with us is unrivalled.  Check out this blog on the qualities of dental assistants which includes comment from our very own Dental Surgeon, Shivani Sachdev.