Mrs Brennan has been kind enough to tell us about what it was like to be a Dental Nurse.
When I left 6th form I had 2 ideas of what I would like to be .
Firstly I wanted to be an English teacher so I applied for Uni to study that, secondly I wanted to be a Nurse .
The nursing program at the time was ran by the NHS and ideally I thought “oh I would love to be a children’s nurse , all playtimes and fairy stories."
Anyway my A-level results arrived and my University applications were processed , I was offered Newman College in Birmingham which had been my 3rd choice. Then I got a letter from Nursing College at the QE who had teamed up with Northumbria Uni.
So that decided it for me , I would become a Nurse .
I started my Nursing studies, it was a mix of placements and theory. I was based at the Freeman even though I lived in South Shields, we had placements on all of the wards, Adult, Community, Mental Health, Midwifery & Children's .
I loved being on the surgical ward and the mental health wards . But the midwifery & children's wards were nothing like I had imagined. 2 .5 years passed quickly and I was onto the final slog to finish my Nursing. Then I got a chance to move away to Aberdeen, I spoke to my tutor and he said I could finish my final year at a later date .
So off I went to Aberdeen, I applied for carers jobs & I also applied for a Dental Nurses job .
When I started at the Dental surgery I felt like this was exactly where I wanted to be. The morning starts were early as we had private patients to see, multi millionaire oil CEO’s, their treatment was so different to what we usually did for our NHS patients. They liked gold fillings, yes real gold, or teeth bleaching & crowns (little porcelain covers on your teeth).
I had to study for my Dental Nursing exams while working and got the train through to Edinburgh to take the final exam. I had revised so much for this.
Dental nursing isn’t as easy as it seems, you still need to know the anatomy and physiology of the patient, blood groups, which teeth are which, how to prepare filling material, how to prepare impression materials for false teeth. There’s hygiene regimes to follow and sterilisation techniques. Processing & taking x-rays .
I loved it all , especially when we had a really good clean and polish to do (that’s when all the plaque gets cleaned from your teeth by a little needle type instrument).
We also did sedations, this is when you’re given a medication to relax you for your treatment, my nurses training helped with this as we had to take a patients blood pressure & check their medical records before administering the sedative.
From starting dental nursing I remained in practice for 8 years, my favourite thing was when I was a community dental nurse. We visited nursing homes & residential care doing check ups and making dentures all in the community.
Dental nursing was really everything I loved about nursing, the community, the surgical element and helping patients. But it came with more sociable hours, no nightshifts!
The days are long but the time flies, I used to get to work for 7.30am to make sure all my notes were ready, all my equipment, appointments & record cards. Everything I needed for the day. On a late night we wouldn’t finish until 8pm and we all took turns working one Saturday a month.
I would definitely recommend being a Dental Nurse or a Nurse . Both careers were so rewarding .
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