Would you recommend dental nursing as a career?

I've been in both NHS and private, currently NHS. I would still provide my answer regardless of which type I am in now and don't think the type really has a whole bunch to do with it (much).

Good luck !

Im very happy for you Bex! well I do work in a mixed Dental practice and we do mostly NHS. I cannot say that is bad there, the patients are lovely and the Dentist that I work with is also really nice.
When I worked in a private it was much worse for me, the managers made us do so much and I cant remember how many times I had gone the day without lunch break....
I think it vary depending on the company....
Hey, good luck to ya, and I hope they treat you well and that you are happy there.

Well, it seems like most of you would have felt the same when asked if you would recommend our job... very sad really!

Little update on my own situation, I've started at my new practice now and think I will feel differently here. As I said the pay is much better and I feel the dentists really appreciate their nurses and it's a real team effort. I've even been invited to an evening out they are having soon, courtesy of the dentist who owns the practice.

So, I think right now, I would safely say I recommend working in a private practice!

Is this just me? Do you guys work in primarily NHS or private practices?

What did you do to become an assessor walshy? and is that a full time position?

I'm no longer nursing, I simply had to get out and do something else for the sake of my sanity.
I simply got sick and tired of dealing with all the extra responsibility and feeling that we were getting nothing in return.
I'm not one for complaining to other nurses and doing nothing else, so I lobbied the GDC with regards to the ARF, I even took on the BADN and asked them what they were doing to represent us. I asked my M.P. to take our situation to Parliament (I didn't feel he was interested and frankly I felt he let us down), but don't let that put anyone else off, maybe your M.P. is far more sympathetic to their constituents than mine is.
Even though I have now become an assessor, I still regard myself as a nurse first and foremost. If I can think of ways to try and make a change, I have to give it a try.

I am actually finishing my PTLLS at the moment and I would like to become a tutor but I don't know yet, so I can be even more pressing about the Dental Nursing future. I think we do deserve to be truly given professional status, because it seems they are more than happy to give us more and more responsibilities but when it comes to pay us fairly they pretend that we are nothing....
i know talking to MP may come to nothing, but wait there that I may come with more ways to put my cause into the public domain.
I absolutely love what I do, and I will fight to make it my lifetime profession.
But I cannot do it on my own....
( can tell I had another bad day)
sorry my dear confidents!

I tried talking to my MP and I'm sorry to say that I felt I got nowhere. He said it wasn't down to Members of Parliament to decide what dental nurses earned or to regulate how much we had to pay in registration fees etc.
I've been a dental nurse for over 17 years and I wanted a career change not long after I started!
My dream came true recently when I became a dental nurse assessor. I have to say it has been worth the wait and the many years of feeling like the underdog. I am happy, I feel I am doing something worthwhile and for once I go home with a smile on my face, which is god news for my long suffering boyfriend!
But I do agree with everything you have all said. I hope things do improve over time but it's not going to happen yet.

Speaking to your MP isn't a bad idea I guess.

I have a friend working in Sainbury's and he do get better paid than me and they do get lots of benefits for working in there.
what a shame, hey! and the only dangerous thing abt his job is that once they found an african spider in some bananas.... not like us that can get all sort of bugs...
I will be speaking with my local MP to see if she can put a word for us, you know.

I think it all depends what you want to get out of it.

I've had a varied career doing many different aspects but I do become very frustrated at times as I think when you get to a certain level you hit that 'glass ceiling'

No. Because there is too much of a big gap of respect between Dentists and Dental Nurses, where it allows them to place us under unfair working conditions and unfair payment, we have a massive responsibility in our role which does not reflect in your salary or in the way we are viewed by most Dentists.
I do love medical sciences and really do enjoy Dentistry but Im tired of being treated as a cheap tool, and at the moment I would not recommend it to be followed as a profession.

Hello.
No, I wouldn't recommend dental nursing as a career either. I've been doing it for 14 years. I left a previous practice because I was fed up of the boss making me a scapegoat for anything that went wrong, or problems between staff. I moved to another practice, only to find out I'm also pregnant. My new boss has actually asked me if I would work whilst on maternity leave! I wouldn't get any extra pay (only going to get stat maternity pay as it is) or get time off in place.
I've already discussed it with my OH, I don't think new boss would be happy to let me go part time, therefore, I can't see me returning to dental nursing after baby born.
I've also found out some supermarkets pay their staff more than what we get, as professionally qualified dental nurses. What a joke!!

Dramatic, frustrated, angry post aside...

I have actively discouraged people from this career option. If I told someone that it was a good time to become a DN I'd be lying and feel terrible about it.

I believe the position and industry are undergoing many changes at the moment. But these changes shall take a long time to catch up with reality. I think that being a DN in ten years time will be great. Much better pay and perks but entry shall be harder as it'll be recognised as the technical role it is.

For the mean time those that remain are in for a tough ride. In my opinion of course .

Good on you for being honest to your friend.

One word.


No.

Ok so, as the title suggests, would you recommend dental nursing as a good career move?

I am in the process of switching practices as I have been feeling increasingly undervalued lately where I am currently working. I feel the pay, at just over seven pounds an hour, is low considering I could work in a shop for little less and not have the worry of the GDC incease, indemnity insurance, having to take time off to gain CPD and finishing late everyday without getting paid for overtime.

A friend came to me recently and asked if I would recommend dental nursing as she is looking for a career change and thinks it sounds very interesting. I felt very sad when I realised I just could not recommend my job to her as from where I stand at the minute, it is just not worth it. However, I realise because I am unhappy where I am that I am incredibly biased and I told her that I wasn't the best person to comment right now.

The practice I am moving to is very different. Smaller, private as opposed to NHS, paid overtime, courses provided, shorter working day, and much better pay, supposedly with an increase each year.

I am hoping that in a few months I will turn around to somebody and say that yes, I absolutely recommend this job. I am not expecting to love every second of my working life, but I do expect to feel valued.

So what do you think, given your experiences, would you recommend your job to a friend?