The unexpected additonal career as a Dental Nurse.
Back in 1977 I was a recently qualified primary school teacher working in Southampton when my husband's health required a complete change of lifestyle. Consequently we moved to Dornoch in Sutherland to live in a croft. Quite a difference especially as we made the move in the heavy snows of January 1978. Obviously I could not just walk into a teaching job in Scotland so I cast around for alternative employment. I heard through a friend that the local Schools Dental Service needed a nurse who could also help with talking to children about good oral health so I went along and got the job based on my child wrangling skills!
It was a great job. The surgery was a caravan fully fitted with everything you would expect including dental chair . It was towed around the highlands behind an ancient Landrover and set up in the playground of a school for a week or so at a time. The dentist I worked with was a lovely man who exalted in the name of Alexander McArthur Bennie. As we pitched up at the schools there would often be a small gathering of adults waiting for ' a wee word Mr. Bennie'. In addition to the kids we were responsible for pre and post natal dental care of many young women and anyone else who could persuade Mr. Bennie to see them - our days could be very long indeed.
As an introduction to working in dental health it was a fantastic grounding in how taking the care to the community can have a direct and lasting effect. Many of the young women who came during their pregnancy had grown up attending Mr. Bennies' surgeries and had benefitted from his gentle but firm advice. As a result they would be keeping their own teeth for many years instead of having dentures in their twenties as their Mothers had done.
Back in England this experience enabled me to work as a dental nurse on and off between children and businesses. Last year, having sold our final business, I was fed up with retirement and looking for a part-time job. I went for my regular check up and there in the window was an advert for a part-time dental nurse - it was obviously meant to be! So here I am, after a break of twenty five years, back in the surgery and loving every minute. Many things have changed not least the requirement for qualification! At fifty four years old it is a challenge to get the brain to go back to the classroom but it is worth it for recognition that Dental Nurses are essential and multiskilled members of a professional team delivering essential care in our community.
Back in 1977 I was a recently qualified primary school teacher working in Southampton when my husband's health required a complete change of lifestyle. Consequently we moved to Dornoch in Sutherland to live in a croft. Quite a difference especially as we made the move in the heavy snows of January 1978. Obviously I could not just walk into a teaching job in Scotland so I cast around for alternative employment. I heard through a friend that the local Schools Dental Service needed a nurse who could also help with talking to children about good oral health so I went along and got the job based on my child wrangling skills!
It was a great job. The surgery was a caravan fully fitted with everything you would expect including dental chair . It was towed around the highlands behind an ancient Landrover and set up in the playground of a school for a week or so at a time. The dentist I worked with was a lovely man who exalted in the name of Alexander McArthur Bennie. As we pitched up at the schools there would often be a small gathering of adults waiting for ' a wee word Mr. Bennie'. In addition to the kids we were responsible for pre and post natal dental care of many young women and anyone else who could persuade Mr. Bennie to see them - our days could be very long indeed.
As an introduction to working in dental health it was a fantastic grounding in how taking the care to the community can have a direct and lasting effect. Many of the young women who came during their pregnancy had grown up attending Mr. Bennies' surgeries and had benefitted from his gentle but firm advice. As a result they would be keeping their own teeth for many years instead of having dentures in their twenties as their Mothers had done.
Back in England this experience enabled me to work as a dental nurse on and off between children and businesses. Last year, having sold our final business, I was fed up with retirement and looking for a part-time job. I went for my regular check up and there in the window was an advert for a part-time dental nurse - it was obviously meant to be! So here I am, after a break of twenty five years, back in the surgery and loving every minute. Many things have changed not least the requirement for a qualification! At fifty four years old it is a challenge to get the brain to go back to the classroom but it is worth it for recognition that Dental Nurses are essential and multiskilled members of a professional team delivering essential care in our community.
J Yallop
My dental nurse story starts from ten years ago when i was 18 years of age, undecided what i wanted to do after studying towards a nursing deploma and decided i wanted to go into work, i can across a trainee job advert for dental nurse recommended by my mum who was also a dental nurse. I went to two interviews and was offered both jobs and took on the one in a busy practice in a town called runcorn, straight away i quickly got the hang off dental nurse role and worked on reception and alongside the practice manager and decided to do my dental nursing qualification, which then wasnt compulsery but i wanted to do it right away. I worked full time and each week i would drive to Liverpool to Aldertraining to do my nursing certificate, been so eager to get passed i fast tracked my course and put my exam forward and got top marks for my portoflio. I then herd about other career options and was particularly interested in becoming a dental hygienist so this was my next step to look into once i had my dental nurse certificate. I made friends with a girl at collage who recommended me for a job in a private practice, which i went for. Working in a private practice was so different to the busy nhs practice and enabled me to see some specialist work. Six months later after i qualified i bought a house in the area of warrington where i searched for work. i can across the dental Academy, a specialist referal practice, i worte to then and got an interview, there were no vancancies but i was told that they really liked me and would get in touch as soon as something came up, two months later i got a call and started training as a specialist dental nurse gaining skills and learning so much more. I worked alongside the perodonist and closely with the hygiene department, because i was interested in becoming a hygienist i attended all the hygienist course and perio course that were available and attended lectures so i got an idea of the dental hygienist role. I then worked with the implantlogist and joined the implant team which was an exciting demanding role, and gave me even more dental nurse skills. The next year i worked with the orthodontist sepcialist learning about bracework and invisible braces , and herd about the role of dental theropist in orthodontics which also interested me into further study. At the dental Academy i also worked with specialists in endodontics, at this point in my career i felt i wanted to do more, i had learned all types of surgical proceedures and felt ready to do some post qualifactions to push my career forward. I asked the practice i worked in if i could do my radiography course but had to wait for other nurses to complete theres for a year so i took a brave decision to take a year out independantly to Australia. I was so nervous but thought it would be a great experience to work out there doing dental nursing practising my skills and seing another part of the world. So i did, i wrote to my boss and explained that i would like to give plently of notice and would loved to come back on my return, he was so supported as were all the team, i got excellent references and by three months i saved and packed my certifcates up and off i went to Australia on my own at the age of 22. I had the most amazing experience of my life it was hard work but has been most rewarding and im so proud of myself for having the coursage to do it on my own. I started in Sydney and signed with an agency and within weeks got work everywhere, once i was on my feet i gained contacts and travellled around the whole of Australia from Sydney to perth, down the east cost and all over western Australia. I worked in so many different types of practices made friends and got so many job offers, along with offers of sponcership to stay in Austrailia permanent. I worked with gerneral dentist, hospitals, private hospitals, special needs, and also worked with high risk patients and got offered the opportunity to work with the indiginous in central Australia, teaching the aborigianal community oral health education, this was a something i decided i wanted to look into once a returned back to the uk and plan another trip out to do some charity work with dental professionals. After working for the year in Autralia i dencided i wanted to come back to the uk and do some more study. I wrote the dental academy where i previously worked and was offered my job back immediately and was delighted. I bought a car with all my tax back earned from working in Australia and started two days after i can home still jet lagged. I got myself a lovely little appatment ten where i am still happy living in and decided to do a post qualifcation. Still having to wait to do the radiography course i asked management in my work place if i could be my oral health certificate but they wernt keen and i thought it would benifit, so i used all of my hollidays and funded the course myself and went to Liverpool university and now i have just completed my course whilst at the same time i took on a second job to fund it and worked for the community as a bank nurse working weekends, along with 4o hrs full time and the dental academy. Partway through my course i was then told i had a place on the radiography course at Manchester university, so i did that also. I wanted to write this story because i have manages to hold a full time job (working saturday also),do two post qualifications,oral health education and radiography and work sat pms and sundays in the community as a bank dental nurse just so i can fund my post qualifactions, and two weeks ago i finished all exams and im so happy ive completed all the work. I would have loved the support from my work place for my oral health education course, as i had to use my hollidays and some funding would have really hepled me, but unfortunately because i work in a private practice there are no benifit when it comes to funding and now its hard work living independantly and having to pay for cpd courses and registration fees,It would be nice to see more support for dental nurse who want to get post qualifcations to move there career forward without the cost,i used my hollidays and now i have to work on call also on a rota, it would be lovely to see a change in pay for us dental nurses who work late, pay for courses, pay for cpd and work weekends and on call also. Now i have gained my post qualifications im looking forward into changing my role again and moving my career forward. I think dental nurses work so hard we need to hear more about support I feel the dental nurse network site is the future for dental nurses, its great for sharing experiences and getting advic