How did you start out as a dental nurse?

I first started dental nursing at sixteen when I left school. My aunty got me the job and it just began as a saturday job. However, I really enjoyed it so I soon began working full time. I had to travel quite a lot so I moved practices and worked for another three years in a different practice. I then fell pregnant so took some time out.

Did you go back to dental nursing?

Yes. I ended up going back to nursing part time, working two days a week.

However, I then decided to take a different direction in my career and ended up working as a Landscape Gardener which was great passion of mine.

Unfortunately, I suffered a shoulder injury from using very heavy equipment and this meant I couldn’t continue with Landscape Gardening. Due to my injury I was introduced to Complimentary Therapy and this is where I was inspired to follow yet another direction. I became a Reiki healer and a Reiki master, as I taught other students. I worked with many cancer sufferers, the elderly and the blind. It looked like my days as a dental nurse were over. However, this changed when I went along with a friend for an appointment at my old dental practice and my old boss asked me to come back. So I did! I have now combined both roles in my life. I am the Reiki representation for Essex and Greater London and I also work part time in a private practice as a dental nurse.

What do you think brought you back to dental nursing?

I loved working in a team and I loved interacting with patients. I missed it. After learning lots of valuable skills in Reiki I now use many of these techniques in treatments. I use relaxation techniques on patients before their treatments. Breathing techniques and often just talking to them calmly can help them to relax. My boss also wants to go down the Complimentary Therapy route too, he’s seen how well it works.

What then inspired you to write a book?

So, in the last ten years of my life I’ve kept a journal. I have used it as a way to relax, wind down after a long day and to express my thoughts. I found that especially when I was working within dental practices I came across a lot of different people and circumstances every day. Often things would stick in my mind all day and I needed a way to release these thoughts. I started writing a WordPress blog and I would often write positive, happy things on Facebook as well. I got so much positive feedback from my blog and from posts. People told me that it made them feel good, they said they would feel inspired, energised and happy after reading my words. This is when I decided to make my journal a book.

What’s the purpose of your book?

It’s a self help book. Sometimes working in big practices can be really stressful and I think the best way for nurses to deal with stress or feelings is to write things down or read things. I wanted to inspire nurses to do just this, to appreciate each day and what they do. What’s different about my book is that you don’t have to read it from left to right, you can dip in and out. You can just open any page and read it. I really wanted to share my positive and happy thoughts with other dental nurses. However, it is not just for dental nurses it’s for everyone!

What has the feedback been like?

It has been overwhelming, I have received such wonderful responses. It has been really lovely. One hundred and four people came to my book signing and my boss was one of them! One patient came in my practice and told me she had bought nine copies. She is a hairdresser from Epping and she said she wanted to give them to her clients who needed a boost in life. I was so touched!

What would you say you love most about being a dental nurse?

Dental nurses help people to smile. Sometimes nurses get stuck, bored and feel frustrated in their jobs but they have to remember that they are actually changing people’s lives. They are changing people’s smiles, literally changing their smiles! I have witnessed so many patients come in with their hands over their faces, so nervous or with no confidence. I have loved watching these patients grow and I think nurses need to focus on these rewarding parts of their jobs! Everybody loves to smile.

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We all think being a dental nurse is about sucking spit and scrubbing instruments and when I first started in practice it pretty much was. However, these days there is so much more to the role. Even starting out as a trainee there is so much to learn and many places the role can take you.

I have been working as a dental nurse for 12 years now, it is a job I fell into as a teenager. I first applied for a job as a receptionist, after leaving school. I ended up in surgery working with a real old school dentist. At 18 years old this was quite a scary experience but I survived, lived to tell the tale and enrolled on the Dental Nurse NVQ at the local college.

I loved the course and I ended up moving to a practice that offered more extensive treatments like surgicals and working with a dentist who was trained in Maxillo facial. This meant we did all sorts of surgical treatments, including implants. These treatments really caught my attention and I learnt a great deal. I found it all fascinating. I also worked with an Orthodontist once a month. I didn’t find this quite as interesting but again I learnt so much from the team I was working with and I passed my exams with a distinction.

Since then I moved on. I worked in many practices, worked as an agency nurse and even did a stint in a hospital. Not everything was enjoyable but I have found all the experiences and working in different environments has made me a well rounded nurse.

When I started my current role as a Treatment Co-ordinator I was unsure if I wanted to stay in the dentistry industry, with all the new rules including having to be registered and paying for it ourselves! But at the time the job was a job. I am now glad that I stayed, I have progressed more than ever in the last three years of working here.

Impression Taking

I was first introduced to Impression Taking when my boss sent me on an Impression Course to take Invisalign Impressions and photos (to save him time). I wasn’t even aware nurses could do things like this (I hadn’t paid much attention to scope of practice). However, this Impression Course really grabbed my attention. I learnt what we as nurses could do and it gave me a better understanding of the range of practice that is available for a dental nurse. After the day course and learning how to take Impressions I went back to the practice and completed a portfolio of the experience. This portfolio helped me prove my ability and gave me the confidence I needed to work with patients and take high quality Impressions.

I then became really busy in the practice, taking impressions for all sorts: study models, retainers, whitening trays, Invisalign, Inman aligners and six month smile. It was really good to have more interaction with patients and be confident in my own abilities.

Treatment Coordinating

Since then, I have also had extensive coaching and training days with Laura Horton to become a practice Treatment Coordinator. I now see all new patients that come to the practice. My role is to get to know them, put them at ease and build relationships with them before they go into the surgery. This role has inspired me to develop my communication skills and I have been amazed at patient’s responses to meeting me before seeing the dentist. A Treatment Coordinator removes the clinical environment that often makes patients nervous. It is easier to establish exactly what patients want from the services we offer when we put them at ease with an informal chat. This is by far my favourite role, having a chat and a cup of tea whilst getting to know new people. I have also completed photography courses so patients get sent up to me at the beginning and end of their treatments for photos. I have my own diary now to see patients alongside the dentist, to help explain procedures to patients which sometimes dentist don’t explain in the simplest terms and to also help them work out their finances.

Teaching

I have moved on a lot since that initial course and I now teach the same Impression Course which I was first sent on. I have completed a teaching qualification which was challenging but well worth the time and effort. It is so rewarding to give other nurses the skills and confidence to go into practices with more responsibility and the confidence to interact with patients. Whilst doing my teaching qualification I was lucky enough to get a part time role teaching the Dental Nurse NVQ at the local college and what a fantastic experience it was. I really enjoyed meeting many young, promising dental nurses that were passionate about a career which could take them somewhere. This is definitely a direction I would love to pursue further and would encourage others to do too. All the skills I have learnt have changed our practice and the way we worked before. I save valuable time for our dentist so they can get on with the real dentistry. Being the TCO in the practice removes the non-clinical aspects of dentistry from the dentist and gives a great level of customer service. For example, the popularity of quick cosmetic braces has come about incredibly quickly and the impression required by most of the laboratories is a very similar silicone impression and often a similar series of photographs are required too. This appointment can take a dentist 30 minutes but if that duty is be passed over to a nurse, therapist or hygienist the time and money saved can soon pay for the cost of training and more.

A large part of our role is sucking spit and scrubbing instruments but that is not all we do. There is so much available in our scope of practice. This makes it well worth gaining further qualifications and training. We can progress ourselves, improve our employment and salary prospects. The future is looking bright for dental nurses in the years to come.

I was eighteen and in desperate need of a job because I wanted to move to Manchester. I was living in Bolton and had just finished my A Levels. I had decided that I really did not want to go to University. So after trawling through the newspapers I found a job advertised for a dental receptionist in the city centre. I was drawn to a caring profession and I thought maybe this was the first step to the career I wanted to build. I got the job and moved.

I joined a busy four surgery practice and worked alongside another full-time receptionist. I had no idea how the dental programme worked and no idea what a 'MOD' was. Overtime, I got to know the dental nurses, the dentists and the hygienist who I used to see pop out of her room every twenty minutes to call in a patient. She seemed busy but happy and I thought that maybe this was something that I could do. I decided that I really wanted to be in the surgery. I asked if this was a possibility on numerous occasions but I was told that I needed a Hepatitis B vaccination. I got the feeling they were trying to fob me off.
One morning I was reading the free paper on the way to work and I saw a job advertised for a dental nurse at a practice around the corner from my house. I sent my CV to them and I got an interview straight away. They offered me the job and I left the city centre practice with a weeks notice. My first thoughts were of terror, I was frightened of being in the surgery! I had to learn very fast because I was the principal dental nurse and we were constantly very busy. These were the days before mandatory registration with the GDC so I was working unaware of the theory behind all the procedures that were being carried out.

Then I had to move back home. I left my job in Manchester and straight away tried to find another dental nursing job in Bolton. I had a temporary stop gap of clerical work for an agency but eventually, I found another dental nursing job and stayed with the practice for a few years. I then began to feel like I was out-growing the position. This was when I decided to I apply to Manchester Metropolitan University to study Human Nutrition. I was a Vegan and really interested in Nutrition. I thought that maybe this would help me pursue a potential career as a Dietician.

I travelled to Manchester from Bolton everyday. Then my Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was myself and my brother who looked after my Mum with some help from other members of the family. She died three months after being diagnosed. The practice that I had left to go to University kindly offered me a part-time position for a few months until my second year, so I started working there again shortly after my Mum's passing away. I then went back to University and I found that I had no idea what was going on, I just did not have the mental capacity to cope with sitting in a Biochemistry lecture theatre. It was then I made the decision to have a year out and get myself together. In this year I went back to dental nursing at the same practice. I still had the desire to be a hygienist but it was highly competitive to get a place on a course that I wanted to ensure I had a 'back-up plan'.

I then found out that you could do a degree in Human Sciences at Bolton University which was a ten minute walk from house. It meant I would not have to commute to Manchester and I could spend more time with my brother. So I embarked on a new degree, always with the thought in the back of my head that having a degree as well as dental nursing experience would hold me in good steed for a place on a hygiene course. I was in my final year and still working at the practice to help me out financially but I still was not a officially a qualified dental nurse. I registered for the NEBDN exam at Manchester dental hospital. I had three weeks to learn all the theory behind the practical work that I was doing. For three weeks I sat in my University library and read my dental nursing book from cover to cover. I took my dental nursing exam and I passed much to my relief but my results had come a few weeks after the UCAS deadline. What was I to do?

I applied to study hygiene/therapy at the three places that were not using UCAS. They were: Bristol, Liverpool and King's College. I had interviews at Liverpool and Kings. I ended up choosing Kings because I wanted to be in London. I received my degree result from Bolton University in the summer and I had finished with a 2:1. Finally, after a lot of hard work and decision making, everything was falling into place. I then started at Kings a few months after. It was two and a half years of lectures/seminars/clinics/presentations/written exams/spoken exams and every single day was worth it.

I am now 30 years old and a hygienist/therapist. This all came about from being an 18 year old needing a job so I could move away from home. I had set backs. I even thought I wanted different career at one point but I stuck at it and it paid off. No matter what you want to do with your career as a dental nurse, you can do it. It may mean moving away from home for a job or for a course. It may mean giving up your weekends with your friends but I can tell you that it is worth it. It just takes time, hard work, determination and a belief in yourself that you can achieve. So what are you waiting for? It's the New Year, make plans, put those plans into action, you can do anything you want to do, just be patient.

Kimberly Close

Laura Horton began her career in 1996 as a regular dental nurse but today has built her way up to be an inspiring business owner and consultant. Her career opened her eyes to many different dental environments from the NHS, mixed, community, hospital, private, cosmetic and orthodontic practices. Through her wide range of experiences Laura gained a great passion and a considerable amount of knowledge of the dentistry industry. In 2004 Laura became a Treatment Coordinator, a job she loved. It was through her experience as a Treatment Coordinator that she developed the basis of her business idea: that all practices could benefit from a position like hers.

She then spent years developing the system of a Treatment Coordinator. She believed in something exceptional, not only for patients but for dentists and their whole teams. Laura’s business ‘Laura Horton Consulting’ which began in 2008, is now a consulting company which specialises in the implementation of the Treatment Coordinator position. The company offers training and courses for Treatment Coordinators and practices looking to gain another team member but also provides education and training for existing employees such as practice managers, dental nurses and dentists.

The role of a Treatment Coordinator is to offer free consultations for prospective new patients. Laura maintains that, ‘Every new patient has questions, needs options, you need more of them.’ New patients are expected to pay. TCO can offer free consultations to see what kind of treatment the patients might want.’ Laura claims that her approach avoids ‘shoppers’ and that practice revenue can increase, pressure can be reduced on the team and non-clinical time is can also decrease. Laura’s team travels to deliver training programmes which involve workshops and elearning. Laura has become an extremely influential figure and the UK’s number one Treatment Coordinator Consultant. Laura describes her business as ‘the unique partner for forward thinking dental practices wishing to raise their level of business success.’

Dr Ashish Parama who is the Principal at Smile Design by Ash, which is one of the top five cosmetic and implant practices in the UK and also appeared on Extreme Makeover UK said, ‘I can honestly say she is one of the best employees I’ve ever had. She’s very fun, she’s very proactive, Laura likes to learn, she picks things very fast. And the other great thing is she’s also launched her own teaching career as a Treatment Coordinator and I know Laura is probably the number one Treatment Coordinator in the UK right now and quite deservably so.’  At Smile Design Laura was in charge of managing the two practices and was also responsible for the training academy.

Chris Barrow said, ‘Laura combines energy, passion, an intimate knowledge of her area of expertise and a mature business brain. She has become the "go to girl" for treatment co-ordinator training - which is why she is the recommendation of choice for my own clients.’

Laura Horton Consulting aims to push forward practices, increase patient numbers, increase cash flow and set outstanding standards of dentistry across the UK. Laura’s ultimate aim is to motivate practices to strive for the best service they can offer which can result in teams being proud of their service and what they do. She has assisted practices in reaching high levels of success. Laura is recognised for her knowledge of the UK dental marketplace and understanding of the public. With her compelling enthusiasm and passion Laura has become invaluable to the progression of dental practices across the UK.

Olive Dental Care’s Dr  Shebin Koshy said, ‘I can recommend Laura to any dentist who wants their business to be transformed. I have never met anybody with so much energy and passion about what they do.'