BADN calls for recognition of dental nurses’ contribution to dentistry

However, the BADN suggests it raises the question of the number of registered dental nurses necessary to provide such support – and why, despite several thousand student dental nurses qualifying and registering every year, a similar number fail to re-register each July and leave the profession.

According to their figures, there are currently 57,000 dental nurses on the GDC register and 3,500 failed to re-register this July.

BADN President Jacqui Elsden said: ‘The recent pandemic has served to highlight why there are currently insufficient dental nurses in the UK. Although NHS and mixed practices received their NHS funding as normal – and a condition of that funding was that they continued to pay their staff as normal – many refused to pay their dental nurses in full, leaving them with little or no income.