7 things to know before you start dental nursing

When training to be a dental nurse, you are invited to enter into a world of specialist knowledge. You expect to learn about anatomy, safeguarding and infection control, but some of the most valuable revelations I had while training were the kind you cannot learn from a textbook.

First month

The volume of information alone caused a month-long headache. Starting as a trainee dental nurse was overwhelming – in a good way – and the first milestones I acknowledged were being trusted with the aspirator and being trusted with the phones.

1. Tongues are strong. It’s difficult to appreciate exactly how powerful and explorative the tongue can be, until you are wrestling with more than 30 of them each day. I spent three weeks desperate to be involved and then, when passed the baton, immediately felt out of my depth. Ironic because, if there is an easy way to judge your depth perception, it’s by holding a tube in somebody else’s mouth.