The role of a Dental Nurse

Although there may be a majority of people who do not like going to the dentist, some people do enjoy it and like to be part of the dental surgery and choose it as a career. With the great choices or sweets and sugary foods, unfortunately the visits to the dentists are much higher than before. To assist with this increase in demand, there is a need for more dental nurses to aid the dentists during each appointment. Some dental tasks would require the need of more than one person; therefore dental nurses are of great beneficial to these dental surgeries. The role of a dental nurse is to assist the dentist with all the necessary clinical duties within the surgery. As the number of patients increase, it is important that dental nurses can prepare the instruments and equipment required by the dentist to save time and see more patients. Simple dental procedures can also be performed by the dental nurse therefore freeing up time for the dentist to do other things, the dental nurse would also need to sterilise all the instruments used and keep the surgery as clean as possible. If the patient is back on a routine appointment, it is important that the dental nurse provides all previous records of the problems as well as what the check up will be for. Recording data onto the computer system is also the duty of the dental nurse, as well as filing and storing records. Due to the type of environment the role is in, any equipment and wastes would need to be disposed of carefully and correctly. As it is mostly the dental nurse which provides the dentist with the stock and materials, it is important that the dental nurse can keep a note of the stock and order them whenever it is low so that it will always be available for use when required. In order to become a dental nurse, the candidate must have previous nursing experience, experience of working within a surgery, be willing to train and develop, have good customer service skills and good IT skills. A considerable amount of team work is also involved; therefore team working skills would be beneficial to the role.